Randy and I watch programs on television through streaming platforms mostly to avoid the slanderous, evil words of hate by opponents running for an office in government. We recently moved to another state; but with midterm elections coming soon, the slanderous ads are the same—only the names have changed.
Thank about it, many party line organizations will spend millions on a person’s campaign if they will do what the political power players in the organization say for a government job meant to serve people that will not pay in return yearly what is spent to gain the position. Has it really come to this in our country? It would appear and seem that it has. And it makes us saddened to know that it works often in this way.
In the “soap boxes” of past debates over what was best for people; leaders like Lincoln and Douglas passionately expressed better ways to improve the lives of people with platform points by telling people to their faces in a public forum how they would serve them, giving voters a clearer choice. Now, these forums which are not really debates over issues of the day but slanderous rhetoric are televised through the media with carefully designed words to gain a position of power that serves themselves or the organization who support them being in power. “We the people” stand on the sidelines praying for discernment for there seems to be no one trustworthy to serve “for the people”. Opponents work harder at spinning the truth that flies in the face of all that is right and good to known and done “by the people”. (Whew, maybe I have been sitting on the sidelines too long.)
This state of the church and the country is not new. It’s more pronounced because of the advancements in media output with now the added abilities of “AI”. We the people don’t know which lie to follow— “the lesser of two evils” or is there really a person who can rise up and be the man or woman of God we might be able to trust? Are God’s people lost in the quagmire of political machines ran by people who only seek the acquisition and advancement of power—and to what end?
I think the psalmist is expressing his lament with the same disappointments and sadness we have today. Like the Psalmist, we who believe also seek to avoid evil being and doing as well as evil talk in all environments. We long for honest politicians (can those two words be in the same sentence?) who speak truth and only the truth with God’s help. We seek an end to all the scam artists who “lure us with their sweet talk” and bait us with the tricks of their trade. We seek more kindness among those we relate to daily in our families, at church, schools, and in our workplaces. We seek less judgments with assumptions and presumptions of each other with instead more loving acts of decency in all areas of our lives instead of being overly concerned with “getting our own way in all circumstances”. Our model is Jesus who gave His perfect example of how to walk humbly with God. (Philippians 2 plus all four gospels!)
We seek a world driven by God’s love with our main desire being to learn to love like He loves us—without conditions. Can you imagine relating to people with God’s love expecting nothing for yourself in return—Just living with His pure love as our guide, knowing we all were made in the image of our Creator?
I am just now recalling a song taught in my high school choir days—“Let there be peace on earth—and let it begin with me.” Lord, transform me.
Psalm 141, The Message
1-2 God, come close. Come quickly!
Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;
my raised hands are my evening prayers.
3-7 Post a guard at my mouth, God,
set a watch at the door of my lips.
Don’t let me so much as dream of evil
or thoughtlessly fall into bad company.
And these people who only do wrong—
don’t let them lure me with their sweet talk!
May the Just One set me straight,
may the Kind One correct me,
Don’t let sin anoint my head.
I’m praying hard against their evil ways!
Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff;
make them face the music.
Like a rock pulverized by a maul,
let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
8-10 But God, dear Lord,
I only have eyes for you.
Since I’ve run for dear life to you,
take good care of me.
Protect me from their evil scheming,
from all their demonic subterfuge.
Let the wicked fall flat on their faces,
while I walk off without a scratch.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Pray, asking God for wisdom and discernment in all things of this world! We need help!
Oh Lord God, indeed come closer still; for we need you every hour of every day as you never fail in your love and you never lie to us about who we are in your care. We need renewed minds with less judgmental responses and more or Your love applied. What the world truly needs now is Someone to love and to be loved and that Someone is God who is Love. The world is in desperate need of the truth to be told by Someone who loves with mercy and grace. The world needs Jesus, our Savior and Lord sent by God to remove all that is not true and fill us with all that is right and good from Him.
In Jesus Name, by your power, Amen
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”—Jesus, John 13:34-35
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Told by Jesus, Matthew 25:40
Come, Lord Jesus,
Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds with your Holy Spirit, refresh our souls with your new mercies, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. May your peace rule our hearts. Let the morning bring word of your unfailing love; for all my trust is in You.
In Jesus Name, Amen
