Eyes that Do Not See; Ears that Do Not Hear

[1]

Friday, March 11, 2016

VIDEO

Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind,
    who have ears but are deaf.  Gather the nations together!
    Assemble the peoples of the world!
Which of their idols has ever foretold such things?
    Which can predict what will happen tomorrow?
Where are the witnesses of such predictions?
    Who can verify that they spoke the truth?

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon,
    forcing the Babylonians to flee in those ships they are so proud of.
I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King.

                                

Isaiah 43:8-9, 14-15^(NLT)

The enemies of Israel thought they had a stranglehold on God’s chosen nation.  God called for them to use the eyes and ears they possessed to gain understanding of their precarious position, attempting the very thing that got Satan removed from heaven.  Indeed, it was a loving God who had given those eyes and ears in the first place. 

They rejected God’s counsel and found themselves running away dragging their tails weakly behind like whipped dogs. 

That happens to those who oppose God.  A lot!

Resistance to God’s loving ways is not new; indeed it’s as old as the Garden of Eden.  Humankind has always reached out for that which God has already forbidden.  And when the judgment falls it is always accompanied by weeping and wailing over the “injustice” of being punished. 

Having eyes to see and ears to hear, we choose to be like stone or wood, ignoring the warning of God.  And then, when it’s too late, like Cain, who killed his brother Abel, and got a life-sentence of being a wanderer without a real home, we complain, it’s too much to bear![2]

I believe America is headed in that direction.  In just my short life I have observed us turn from a “Mayberry RFD” culture in the 1950’s to Sodom and Gomorrah today.  And, perhaps the capstone of it all was the 1973 Supreme Court decision to legalize killing the unborn.  In that same time frame we have seen the church move from “central” in the life of the community to marginal, and, in some cases, on life-support.

We are walking a slippery slope of national disobedience, and the result is not going to be pretty. 

I am not filled with enough arrogance to pretend that I have all the answers to our national moral dilemma.  

However, I do have eyes and ears to see and hear what God’s Word declares:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.  

2 Chronicles 7:14^(NLT)

For You Today

You don’t have to be at a revival service to go to the altar.  God promised to spare Sodom if he found 10 righteous persons there.  Who knows how many it will take for America. 

I’m willing to be one – what say you?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  By Владислав Фальшивомонетчик, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Genesis 4:13