Great focus is being placed on the issues and challenges we face in America and around the world. Many voices offer the hope of a solution to one problem or another. May I suggest some cautions and call you to the real source of hope? Those who love God, others, and freedom need to be well-informed and spiritually sensitive. Next year’s elections are critically important to freedom here and around the world, but our ultimate hope doesn’t come from a person, party, or policy.
Wisdom will only come to us through prayer. Our founders often referred to this as “the hand of Divine Providence.” Don’t think for one moment we will find reliable answers and the right leaders without God’s guidance. We remember a voice promising hope, change, and the transformation of America. What we have witnessed is leadership that has cast aside many of the foundational principles that made our nation great. We now see a sense of hopelessness, frustration, and anger that can lead to destructive reactions rather than wise responses. We must learn to do as the psalmist, who wrote:
My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
(Psalm 62:5-6)
Isaiah also gives us hope. God calls us to a fast and prayer that leads us to a personal freedom and compassion for one another, a willingness to truly assist the poor and the hungry, and the desire to share ourselves and what we have to offer with others. Not for one moment does the prophet imply that we should turn the responsibility of loving and caring for others to some other power similar to Pharaoh of Egypt and the bondage that follows. This is precisely where we will go if we do not hear God.
Good government is led by people who understand what (or really who) “good” is and truly possess compassion for others. Wise people will not turn over their money, whether through charity or taxation, to leaders who have proven to mismanage everything entrusted to their watch care. This is in fact our problem. So when you see anger on the part of the people toward the federal government and the cry to basically tear it apart, you better step back and ask God to give us wisdom and show us how to restore the foundation and rebuild the walls of safety and security essential to our future, our peace and well being, as well as the opportunities that only freedom offers. If ever we needed to pray together for the wisdom God freely offers, it is now.
In Isaiah 58, the prophet said if we will do the right things, our lives will be like “a well-watered garden” and we will pray and God will quickly answer. He went on to say we would be known as “those who rebuild that which must be rebuilt and restore the age old foundation, becoming a repairer of the breech and a restorer of the paths in which we are to dwell.” But please also consider what the prophet shared in the next chapter:
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken falsehood, your tongue mutters wickedness. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks;
(Isaiah 59:1-2, 7-8a)
I want to caution you to not put confidence in promises politicians make, but carefully examine the principles they exalt or disregard. Make certain while they are tearing down, they also know how to properly build up. When restoring a home or building, the wise one preserves and protects that which is still meaningful, effective, and of value and then replaces that which must be replaced and restored. This is the path of wisdom.
Many things need to be replaced and restored in our neighborhoods, churches, and societies. But first we must recognize that which is essential and eternal. In order to build upon the foundation of God’s truth while eliminating the manmade rubbish, we need heaven’s wisdom to discern the difference between the two. Only then will we find true hope that cannot be shaken.
