Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Who can list the
glorious miracles of the LORD? Who can ever praise him enough? There is joy for those who deal justly with
others and always do what is right. Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your
people; come
near and rescue me. Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen
ones. Let me rejoice in the joy of your people; let me praise you with those who are your heritage. Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We
have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Our ancestors in
Egypt were not impressed by the LORD’s miraculous deeds. They
soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea. Even so, he saved them— to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power. Psalms 106:1 - 8 (NLT)
The children of Israel were a foolish and
fickle bunch (kinda like a committee meeting).
They’d been saved so many times and offered God’s friendship and
care. But each time they thought they
could do better on their own. Scripture says
“Even so, he saved them”…AGAIN!
In the
midst of their biggest failures and fear, God saved them.
The battleground of whether or not to fund
“Obamacare” has been the most polarizing of political posturing we’ve seen in a
long time. The debate is raging back and
forth across the partisan aisles of Congress, and the front porches of
churches. I’ve not seen much worse, even
in the most acrimonious church committee meetings!
The polarization, very simply stated, is
between two ideals:
· First are those
who demand fiscal responsibility, seeing an unsustainable flow of cash
drain on the American economy, amounting to an Uncle Sam freefall giveaway,
which will eventually destroy our ability to maintain the kind of world market
and benevolence leadership which is our history and heritage.
·
Second are those
who see the economically-disadvantaged as deprived of access to healthcare – an opportunity
unevenness which, in contemporary culture, is intolerably oppressive.
Both sides have a reasonable point, and, I
honestly believe, there is well-meaning and honesty (to a degree) on both sides
of the aisle.
But there are also (besides the 535 elected
members of the House and Senate and one president framing the current crisis),
about 316 million other people in this country who are getting increasingly angry
and impatient that the argument has reached such an impasse. This bog is sufficient enough to become a
financial burden and problem all its own!
The baby is in serious danger of being tossed out with the bath water!
On the one hand – and in my humble opinion,
the more pressing – is to do what is just and helps those who are without fair
access to the healthcare system. The
Scripture affirms that it is a Godly and right thing to care for the poor. In the long run that also brings joy to the
soul.
On the other hand – giving something cheaply
destroys both the gift and the recipient.
When I was ready for my first day of
kindergarten it was a chilly morning.
Mom made me put on a light jacket with a zipper. She wanted to zip it up for me. For what seemed like hours we battled – Mom
wishing to zip me up; Russell demanding independence – nobody’s gonna zip my
jacket. Well, I couldn’t, so we finally
struck a bargain – Mom got the zipper connected and I pulled it up the rest of
the way (while Mom tried to keep a straight face).
This was Mom’s “even so”. She put up with my six-year-old petulance and
I went to the bus with a zipped-up jacket.
Point
And it reeks of evil when lives are being played-with.
It’s time to pray for sanity in the Senate and cooperativeness in Congress.
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