I have been watching a disturbing trend that is happening all around me, and this morning I realized that it has begun to take over my life also. I don’t really know how else to describe it other than being shut down.
For some people it looks like apathy, for others denial and still others just willful ignorance. I think I have fallen into each category at one time or another. Right now I would say I am battling sensory overload.
Planned Parenthood, ISIS, extended family issues, neighborhood problems, gas prices, mass shootings… The list could go on forever at this point. The problem is that none of it is really good. We are being overwhelmed by negative, destructive and even evil news on a constant basis lately.
I have been reading through the different books of the Prophets as I am going through my Bible study, and have realized that this is just like the time in history, before Israel and Judah were sent into captivity. There was so much wickedness and evil. Righteousness was not found in hardly any, and the world seemed upside down.
Here is what Habakkuk had to say about the world at his time in 600 BC.
Habakkuk 1:1-4New Living Translation (NLT)
1” This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2” How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
But you do not listen!
“Violence is everywhere!” I cry,
but you do not come to save.
3 Must I forever see these evil deeds?
Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
who love to argue and fight.
4 The law has become paralyzed,
and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
so that justice has become perverted.”
This seems a lot like today. The courts, government and people do things that don’t seem to make sense anymore, to the point where I see people just giving up. I know that I struggle with that. It seems like the overwhelming situations that are going on in our world are sometimes too much to handle.
Because there are so many things going on, and each one seems to pile on top of the others, sometimes I find myself just shutting down to the world and all its problems. I can’t pray, I for sure don’t want to take in any more information, and then I usually find myself getting angry because I feel helpless to change any of it.
The truth is however, that I can make a difference. God has given me the ability to write. God has given me the ability to pray and speak out about injustice. He has given us the right to vote and speak out against things that are wrong in our country. Most of all He has given me the light of the Holy Spirit inside me that overcomes all things!
God has also given me amazing promises in His word.
Habakkuk 1:5New Living Translation (NLT)
The Lord’s Reply
5 The Lord replied,
“Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed![a]
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.”
Romans 8:28New Living Translation (NLT)
28” And we know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Romans 8:23New Living Translation (NLT)
23” And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[a] including the new bodies he has promised us.”
So really this is the problem, and the solution. As a Christian I know that there is something so much better than what I see each day. I have a hope for something so much more, both for myself and for others. I have seen a small picture of the way the world was supposed to be and so now my heart longs for the truth instead of what I experience every day in the physical world.
I am now learning to live in a way that fulfills this scripture.
Colossians 3:1-2New Living Translation (NLT)
Living the New Life
“ Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”
In most of the books of the Old Testament there has been a common theme. Why Lord… Why is the world so broken? But in the end God’s answer was always hope!
Hope not in what I see, but in the fact that Christ has overcome. Hope not in the trials and struggles of this world, but in knowing that the Holy Spirit that lives in me is the same Spirit that brought Jesus Christ back to life after 3 days in the tomb.
Hope because, I have been given an audience with the King of Glory at any time, as long as I am living for Him and seeking Him. I am full of hope for the future because I can rest in the fact that the injustices of this world will be made right, and that God’s plan will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Because of all of these things, what I have to do is keep my eyes on Jesus, living out Colossians 3 and Romans 8. I have to put my trust in the Lord, and not in the things of this world. I have to allow God’s word to be my guide and not my circumstance.
The final thing that for me is most important is; I have to choose to realize that what is to come is real, and what is here today is just a fleeting deception.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10New Living Translation (NLT)
9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”[a]
10 “But[b] it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.”
So, it doesn’t matter if it is the situation with Planned Parenthood, ISIS, problems with family or friends, etc. The truth is that I can make a difference. What I can’t do is allow the voice of discouragement, to shut down the voice of Jesus speaking through each one of us that truly claim His name.
So for me I am going to continue to speak out against the injustices of this world!
Go watch the Planned Parenthood videos and allow Jesus to speak to you and through you!
www.centerformedicalprogress.org/cmp/investigative-footage/
Pray for the many people who have been displaced, persecuted and even killed for their faith around the world!
Love your neighbor, honor your family and do your best to live like Jesus, so that the world will see the hope that you have in Christ.
If you need help and encouragement reach out to other believers and fellowship with people that are living a Biblical life and believing and speaking about God and His goodness to others.
Avoid the things of this world that will entangle you, and hold fast to the hope that you have been given! Most of all—don’t give up!!!
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