“In those days there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 17:6
Do you ever feel as though this worlds rejection of all things Godly is overwhelming? The constant barrage of being told that “good” is evil and that “evil” is good, has led me to stop watching any TV news. It’s biased one-sided reporting (and I use the word ‘reporting’ loosely) by most of the world’s media had me shouting “What about this side of the argument? What about the truth in this matter? What does God’s Word say about this?” On and on I would rant at a box that cared nothing, like the reporter, about the misinformation, and sometimes outright lies, spewing out of its propaganda machine.
The world’s media has well learned how to skillfully control and sway the masses. One needs only to look back into history to know we are heading down the same road with the Hitler cult rising out of the ashes, and ISIS killing anyone who does not bow their knee to Allah. Anyone who has a differing opinion runs the risk of being called Islamaphobic, hateful, and a bigot. Free speech is history, and discussing a subject by searching for the truth, a thing of the past.
Today in our country terrorists are being given special privileges while our veterans who fought and died for us, are being treated as traitors and second class citizens. Historic ignorance by many of our young people is rewriting history at an alarming rate.
Jim Denison writes “For decades now, our culture has denied absolute truth and objective morality. Tolerance is our supreme value — unless, of course, we consider someone intolerant. Those who embrace biblical sexuality face more ridicule today than at any time in our nations history.”
Now what I am experiencing, and what is being taught as truth and morality, is accordingly, whatever you or I want it to be. This is nothing new and has been going on since Adam & Eve fell to Satan’s lie in the Garden of Eden. You may think I feel all is lost and hopeless, but actually I feel just the opposite.
Why? Because I believe in the truth of God’s word and He tells me how it is all going to end! Jesus noted in John 15:4-5 that If we cut a flower at its roots, the flower inevitably dies. “the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Speaking arrogantly against God has become the norm, but as always, God is in charge and has a remnant of people who have not bowed their knee to Baal… “Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard.” Malachi 3:13-18
Conscience still plays a major role in lives and my study Bible has this to say about it… “Conscience is like a compass. If a compass is faulty, you’ll quickly get off course. A conscience gets its signals from the heart, which can be dulled, hardened, or calloused. Furthermore, a conscience can be overly sensitive or can even drive one mad…. In order for one’s conscience to be a good guide, one the Spirit can direct, it needs to be healthy, sensitive, and capable of getting God’s message and truth.”
Charles Swindoll’s book ‘Flying Closer to the Flame’ explains how a good conscience can be achieved – “God gave you a mind. Use it to know Him better. Study the doctrines that put steel into the cement of your faith. Exercise your mind!
God gave you a will. Use it to obey Him. Make decisions that honor and please Him. Exercise your will!
God gave you emotions. Don’t be afraid of them. Let them out. Allow your heart to show through. Exercise your emotions.”
Culture at the time of Judges 17:6, tells what happens when they had no king and that the people become their own king.
The King of my life is Jesus Christ! I may not see Him in the daily news, but I see His working in my life, through my conscience, by exercising my will, with my mind, and my emotions.
This quote from A.W. TOZER says it all – “For each of us the time is surely coming when we shall have nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will all be swept away and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo faith, it is a terrifying thought, but to real faith, it is one of the most comforting thoughts the heart can entertain.”
Here are two Poems by Ruth Bell Graham –
Look o’er the fields about you —
riveted, hilled with graves;
no one can count the number
of those who perished as slaves;
slaves to the sin they were born in,
knowing not God or His Light;
died without God’s great salvation,
died in the darkness of night.
Look o’er the people about you —
faces so furrowed with care,
lined and hardened by sorrow
sin has placed on them there;
think of the evil they live in,
hopes none and joys so few;
love them, pray for them, win them,
lest they should perish, too.
And Another
Like a shadow declining
swiftly away. . . away. . .
like the dew of the morning
gone with the heat of the day;
like the wind in the treetops,
like a wave of the sea,
so are our lives on earth when seen
in light of eternity.