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| The Sea of Galilee |
This
election season has revealed something about my heart I don’t like. It has obviously revealed a lot of things
many don’t like about the hearts of our candidates too. But lest I think I am spiritually superior to
those seeking office or any of their supporters, I need only look inside my own
sinful heart to find a place that needs cleaning up too. I am an informed voter. I feel deeply for the future of the country I
love, and I have overfed myself on opinions, polls and endless newscasts to
find out what’s new. I have no great
affection for either candidate, but I am passionate about seeing our country
return to the safe shores of honor, respect, and protecting the value of every
single life, before and after birth.
While we cannot legislate morality- we can be unwavering in standing by
it. I long to see that again in this
country I love. I also long for a country where my religious
freedoms are protected and I can know little of the persecution so many
brothers and sisters in Christ face around the world. I want a government without corruption, where
every man and woman is free to live life apart from the control of power hungry
leaders. I want to pay as little in
taxes as possible, and for our ministries to be free from them all
together. This is the world I grew up
in, and I like it…
I do not
have to look far to realize that the America I have known for more than 50
years is not the “norm” on planet earth… I need read only a few chapters into
the Bible story, to find a world divided and fighting for power and control,
riches and fame, and to make the name of their god the greatest. So much so that by the time the book of
Hebrews was penned, God’s inspired Word made it clear that His people were to
know themselves as “aliens” in this world.
The story’s end will be victorious, and the promises our hearts long for
will all be realized in a far better kingdom, where the Lord Jesus Himself will
reign. Until then, we are to expect and
even welcome the frailties and pains that are part and parcel to the fallen
world we live in.
I often
wonder why God chose to send Jesus into a world so corrupt, it would even make
the worst among us blush. Sadly, the
religious leaders were so embroiled in the worldly system, even they did not
recognize or welcome the Messiah they had been expecting all their lives. Jesus
introduced Himself at the temple by turning tables over and throwing the money
changers out into the streets. If He was
looking for a political following, this would not have been a good move. But He didn’t come to put a corrupt political
system to rest, or to bring the ease of freedom and prosperity the people
wanted either. I like to imagine Jesus
walking into one of our recent debates unannounced. His followers would have celebrated
wildly! The God of the universe had
finally arrived to set everything straight!
With Him in charge, our world could be right on every account. But can you imagine how disappointed we would
be if Jesus simply threw some tables around and kicked the crooked moderators
to the street and then walked out and back into obscurity? Isn’t God as dedicated to our noble country,
and to our comforts and freedoms as we are?
Apparently not. While we look for
a temporary fix, God has an eternal one in mind. Instead of fighting the system, Jesus died
for it. Then He called us to join Him in
dying to this world and living for something so much better… Him!
A close
inspection of my heart these days, reveals one that still clings to freedoms
this world can offer. It clings to a
patriotism that loves the land it once felt pride in… one that was different
than any other, founded on principles that honored the God I love. But maybe I have been holding too tightly to
a worldly system that still looks to broken men and women to fix it. That fix will never come this side of heaven. If I am waiting for it, I will wait in
vain. And like the fickle people before
me, I have bitten into an apple that will never satisfy my desire for real
life. Sadly, my heart’s condition
tonight reveals that.
If I am
being honest, I have to admit that I feel more than a little anxious about
tomorrow’s election results. I am tired
of being consumed by these haunting thoughts and the impending gloom and doom
if my choice does not win... What this
says about me is embarrassing. I am one
who claims to embrace the absolute sovereignty of God. I believe that He is totally and completely in
control of all things. Did you catch
that heart? ALL things… Even the direction and destiny of the country
you love! But the anxious state of my
heart betrays my lack of trust in a God so sovereign. If I truly believed that He held the affairs
of my life and the world around me in His mighty hands, would I not rest?
While I
am embarrassed by my lack of faith, I know that I am not alone. I found followers just like myself when I was
reading in the Bible last week. I’d like
to think that had I been given the opportunity to walk with Jesus, I might have
had a steadier faith. Surely I would not
have waivered had I been able to actually see His miracles close up and spend
countless hours in intimate conversation with Him. But such was not the case for His disciples
the night they boarded a boat on the Sea of Galilee that would be battered by a
terrible storm, while Jesus laid sleeping in the stern. Convinced they were facing certain death,
they shook Jesus awake! “Do you not care
if we drown, Master?” they cried in unison.
Jesus answered with a question, and I can hear His words in my ears
tonight… “Oh, you of little faith, why
are you so afraid?” Then He instantly
quieted the wind and the waves with two words… “Be still!”
That same
Jesus lies sleeping in my boat tonight. The
storm clouds are gathering and I can hear the thunder rumbling in the
distance. A terrible storm seems
inevitable and I am afraid. But tonight
I have decided to believe that there is nowhere safer than right by His
side. I will lay beside Him and rest,
knowing that He is able to speak to this storm the same way He spoke to that
one on the Sea of Galilee more than 2,000 years ago. As I drift off to sleep I can hear His voice
as He commands the waves around us… “Be still!”
