Blog

by Nathan Buck

As I write this, the inflamed racial tensions in our country from recent shootings are still palpable. Some are angry and lashing out. Some are angry and reaching out. Some are teaching and reasoning to bring people together. Some are justifying and inciting and driving people apart. And some are hunkered down in safe places waiting for the storm to pass and tempers to cool. But EVERYONE seems to be longing for things to change.

The question is, are we really ready for what it will take for change? For peace? Take a moment and read Judges 6:1-10. Right away, we know what caused the problems with Midian. Because Israel rejected God's ways, God allowed Midian to dominate them. And the Midianites were ruthless in their oppression of Israel.

Midian would take all the produce from the fields of Israel and leave them with nothing - not even livestock. Verse 6 says Israel was brought very low. The Hebrew word used there for low means to be weak, poor, needy, and decreasing in number.

  When they get desperate enough to cry out to God for help, do you see what He focuses on? Look at verse 10: "I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not listened to my voice [obeyed me].'"

Israel had stopped listening to God and they stopped trusting Him, which means they stopped following Him and had no confidence in His teachings or power. And when the Midianites came to bully them, they did not look to God; they responded in fear and ran to hide in caves. It was only in their most desperate moment that they cried out to God.

Why do we wait until fear has driven us to the brink of death to reach out for God?

Our nation has continued to see the results from godless living, godless choices, self-focused gratification, and a fear-based reactive mindset that is pervading every corner of our culture. We have become over-sensitized and profoundly aware of every vibration of social media, marketing, and socio-political propaganda, and we have become numb to God. The Church in America continues to shrink, and I believe it is because we have begun to hold more fear/reverence for the power of ungodly ideologies and agendas than we have for God Almighty. We have become afraid to live God's way openly and boldly, we have become afraid to speak the name of Jesus, and we have become afraid to share the reason for the hope that we have, because we fear the consequences more than we trust His power and promises.

Until we get our eyes and our lives focused back on Jesus, the killing will continue, the mistrust and violence will continue, and the rampant immorality and corruption will continue. I hear people saying how "bad" things are. But I think I am still hearing the fear taking us lower and lower. I am not certain yet if we as a nation have realized how low we are and how desperate the hour is.

It's time to cry out to God and let Him confront us on where we have departed from Him. It is time to humble ourselves, seek an audience with God, and turn away from our self-centered and evil ways. And He WILL hear, He WILL forgive, and He WILL heal our land.

Will we seek God together today, and let Him heal our land?

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