Our Human Task

 

Good morning.  It’s Thursday.

 One would have to be a hermit, disconnected from the world in order to not have some knowledge of the national political situation that has played out over the past several years.  Politics as we older citizens have always known it…the politics of Jerry Ford, Bob Dole, Adalai Stevensen, and John Kennedy, has taken a back seat to the politics of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump, and Mitch McConnell.  It’s a different world out there…more caustic, ideological, hard-nosed, and sharp-edged.  That more caustic political tone has caused divisions in the populace.  We seem to be more divided and entrenched in our political silos more than ever before.

 However, there is a large segment of the population that refuses to be herded into one silo or the other.  That group known as Independents is becoming a greater influence in matters political and in setting the agenda for the nation.  Independents like to let it be known that they are not beholden to any political party or ideology, and will support whatever cause or candidate best fits their world view, be that cause or candidate Republican, Democratic, or neither.

 In all of this cacophony of noise, there is an underlying theme which tends to hold together and promote the divisions.  That theme is fear.  Those on the right are fearful that if Joe Biden is elected President, the nation will go down the drain.  Those on the left are fearful that if Donald Trump is re-elected to a second term, the nation will go down the drain.  And Independents fear that if either right or left ideology has its exclusive way, the nation will go down the drain.

 I have news for everyone.  The nation will not go down the drain because Donald Trump wins re-election.  Nor will it go down the drain if Joe Biden wins.  And the same holds true if either right or left ideology has it’s way.  Who is President, who has control of the House or Senate, who is placed on the Supreme Court, who is Secretary of State or UN Ambassador…none of these things will cause the nation to fall.  We’re looking at the wrong things.

 This nation, just as any nation that ever was, is, or will be, will stand or fall because the God of the universe has decreed such.  And if God has decreed a nation’s fall, nothing on the face of the earth can change that decree.  Conversely, if God has decreed more years for a nation, nothing on earth can change that decree.

 There are those who believe they know what God wants for this nation, or for some other nation (and I’m thinking of Israel now) and they are determined to see to it that His desire is carried out…that somehow God isn’t powerful enough to enforce His decrees on His own and has to have the help of humans to see that it’s done as God apparently wants.

 Now, I ask you in all sincerity, does that make sense?  Does God have to have the help of humans who THINK they know what His desire is for the nations to carry out His plan?  The God who created the universe with His word, who upholds all things (that means to keep everything running smoothly) by the word of His power, who calms storms, raises the dead, heals the sick, and even turns water to wine…this God is not powerful enough to effect His will on His own?  He needs US to do it for him?

 And how do we know what God wants anyway?  Who is to say that God wants this nation or that nation to remain in power or to go away?  Does God confide in any human to that extent?  Is there any human who has the mind of God?  Or do we assume God wants what we want…or worse yet, do we use God to justify what we want?

 Whether this nation, or any nation for that matter, stands or falls is ultimately up to the God who created that nation in the first place.  We humans do play a part in His decisions by our faithfulness or our depravity.  God has made it plain over the millennia that He takes a dim view of societal immorality, abuse and neglect of the poor, greed, selfishness, pride, and faith in military power.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God never changes.  If God took a dim view of those things in nations and societies in the times of the Old Testament and also in New Testament times, He also takes a dim view of those things today in a nation and society.

 It would do us well to get beyond ideology, politics, right and left, and get to the heart of the matter.  How are we as a society measuring up to God’s standards?  And how are we as individuals working to do our part to be examples of God’s love by loving our neighbor as ourselves?  That, friend, is where we need to concentrate our energy and resources.