Friday, August 5, 2016
What sorrow
awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws. They deprive the poor of justice and
deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans. What will you do when I punish you, when
I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help? Where
will your treasures be safe? You
will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the Lord’s anger will not
be satisfied. His fist is still poised
to strike. Isaiah 10:1-4(NLT)
Many Christian people (preachers
especially), are fond of comparing the United States to Israel; we are called The
New Israel. In fairness
(especially to the preachers) we do share many similarities: a struggle for independence, a blessed,
rich land, power, and a history
of Godly purposes (albeit that similarity is also fading in modern
America).
So, let’s just allow the premise for
a moment and ask the question:
If America and Israel are two peas in JHWH’s pod,
would the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob treat the USA any differently than
ancient Jews?
My computer’s grammar-checker
questioned the period at the end of Isaiah’s first sentence:
What sorrow
awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.
Windows 10™ wanted to make it a question: tell me
about the sorrows, please. Instead, that
text is a declarative statement…Oh my goodness, what sorrow is
going to leap on the leaders of my people who don’t lead with integrity!!!! No asking; just God telling!
Fast-forward 2,776 years from Isaiah’s
Jerusalem to today’s Washington. If
America is the New Israel, what would JHWH say if invited to speak in prime
time at the Republican or Democratic National Committees’ conventions?
Would the message change?
Short answer: I don’t think so!
I believe the lack of integrity in
American politics has placed us in the same boat with ancient Israel; we stand
in imminent danger of the hand of judgment for our sexual sins, our mismanagement
of God’s resources, our failure to love our neighbor as ourselves, and an
arrogance that says we are always right.
If we want to accept the mantel of
being JHWH’s New Israel, we had better get used to the idea of
just how repugnant our culture is to a holy God, and how ancient Israel got
taken to the woodshed for just such an attitude of believing they could just
live like they wanted, and not how the LORD required.
For You Today
No matter how the leaders act in
Washington, here are the believer’s marching orders:
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8(NLT)
Go to VIDEO
[i] Title Image: By
Raymond1922A (Own work), via Wikimedia
Commons & Lokal_Profil, via Wikimedia
Commons
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