In God We Trust

Really?

Do we really trust in God as a nation? As individuals? As a church?

Read the Book of Jeremiah, or any other Old Testament book. God's people keep wandering off and worshipping other gods (small 'g'). Things are no different today.

Example: During the Covid-19 pandemic, did our leaders humble themselves and pray to God? Did we repent of our sins as a nation, stop killing our babies, and stop worshipping the god of same sex relationships?

No.

Instead we relied on ourselves and our own means for help. According to what I read in the Bible, if we had prayed to God as a nation, He would have relented and stopped the plague ling before so many died.

Do we really trust in God? Where is our president, leading us in prayer for the nation? Where are the prayers of repentance? And would they do any good?

God has a breaking point. A time when He has had enough. Remembet The Flood? I believe we have passed that point and are in a time of punishment.

Here is an excerpt from the Book of Jeremiah. I have modified the city and country names to apply to this nation.

"America has broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of New York and Los Angeles and the people of Washington D.C.will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes." - Jeremiah 11:10-12

We need to ask ourselves, "Would Joe Biden humble himself, repent, and pray for forgiveness?" I doubt it. Neither would Trump, Pelosi, or McConnell.

Why not? Pride, greed, and the love of power and reliance on self. Those are all sins in God's eyes, but we just can't stop ourselves.

Perhaps our nation's motto should be changed to more accurately reflect our sinful nature.

"In Self We Trust"

There is hope though. God told us the cure for what ails this once-great nation. ANY nation.

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14

The problem is not an unwilling God, it is an unwilling and unrepentant people. 

Satisfy Me

Why do foods that are bad for us taste so good? Why do things that are bad for us feel so good? Why do we do the things we do knowing it will get us into trouble later on? There are a couple of reasons. That's easy. We're not thinking about the consequences of our actions and we're thinking about ourselves and our desires.

Think about it. What's the first thing we do when we're born? We cry and complain because someone removed us from our warm, comfortable mommy and turned the lights on! Why?

Chef's like to cook up wonderful tasting things. They taste good and they look good. They also contain a bazillion calories.

When we open the refrigerator door looking for something to eat, why don't we just grab the first thing we see and eat it? I have even opened the door, looked and closed the doors without taking anything out. Why? We're always searching for something that will satisfy our every desire.

Look at our relationships. Why do we continue to "look" when we're already in a relationship? We're always looking for prettier, sexier, more voluptuous, hunkier partners. We're looking for someone to satisfy our sinful desires.

What's the problem? Time to go look in that mirror again.

Have you ever read Romans 1? The whole chapter is quite revealing but I'll just end with the last paragraph.

"28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." - Romans 1:28-32

Where is the hope? How can we end this viciously repetitive cycle of consuming?

Jesus. Pain and simply. Forget self, focus on Jesus and set your self free. Free indeed.

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." - John 8:36

Gimme Gimme Gimme - Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss