It has been a tradition in our culture to call for prayer when disaster strikes. The recent terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California is no exception. Fourteen defenseless people were gunned down, and another 21 were injured. Here are two sample responses: Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted, “Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and the first responders in San Bernardino.” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) said, “Please keep the victims of San Bernardino in your prayers.”
The next day The New York Daily News published this shocking headline, “God Isn’t Fixing This.” The first line of the article is, “Prayers aren’t working.” As the article unfolds, it unleashes anger at the politicians who call for prayer, but who don’t support strict gun control. It is interesting to note, by they way, that the article didn’t direct any anger toward the murderers themselves.
I think The New York Daily News is biased, and you were probably expecting me to say that. Surprisingly, though, I do also think that it makes a good a point. A lot of really bad things ARE happening (war, terrorism, disease, etc.), and God hasn’t stepped in and fixed them. Why is that? Doesn’t God have the power to fix our problems?
Of course He does! Why doesn’t He fix the brokenness in our world? The answer to that question begins to come into focus when we look first at how we have treated God. We breathe His air, eat His food, and enjoy a multitude of His blessings, and yet we refuse to give Him the honor He deserves. “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21–22).
We have become foolish. As a nation, we have thrown any mention of God out of the government (public) schools, and we have removed displays of the Ten Commandments and nativity scenes. Instead of Christmas celebrations, which would be an acknowledgement of God’s greatest gift to mankind, we now have “holiday” celebrations. We shake our fists at God’s sacred institution of marriage, and we condone the murder of tiny babies in wombs of their own mothers.
In other words, we show open contempt for God, and then blame Him for not fixing the results of our actions. That doesn’t make sense. If we want God’s blessing, we must turn away from our sin and honor the God who made us. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). If we want to experience God’s favor on our nation, we must follow and exalt the all-powerful One who created us. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord….” (Psalm 33:12).
British pastor Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) sums up this issue very well: “Everything that a man leans upon but God, will be a dart that will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He, who leans only upon Christ, lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life.”
We need to echo the heartfelt prayer that King Solomon publicly declared in front of his nation: “May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers…so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day” (1 Kings 8:57-58; 60–61).
There are dire consequences for turning away from God, but there are wonderful blessings when we surrender to Him. “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart” (Psalm 119:1–2).
The greatest blessing that God has for us is the eternal forgiveness that is available in Christ. “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered” (Romans 4:7). All other blessings pale in comparison to having God’s forgiveness. Nothing else will matter 100 years from now.
Dr. Tony Evans, pastor to over 9,500 members at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas encourages us with these words: “You can’t live in the atmosphere of the sun and not be hot. You can’t live in the atmosphere of the cold and not get chilly. And you can’t live in the atmosphere of God and not have joy.”
A little over 2,000 years ago God began to completely fix our broken world. He did that by sending Jesus, God in human form so He could become one of us. Someday that God who became man is going to return and completely fix everything. After He comes back, there will be no war, no sickness, no disasters. Even the animals will stop eating each other. Those verses in Isaiah that talk about people beating their swords into plowshares and about the lion and the lamb lying down together are referring to this time.
Here’s the thing, though. When that happens, it will be too late for you. You need to choose Christ as your Savior now. Let the God who will someday fix the entire world begin by fixing your heart.
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