As well it should be.
However, today a new set of thoughts arrived at the door of my mind and heart, I hope I can express it properly here.
Our new president swept into office on a wave of change, and I have to hand it to him - he was as good as his word. Monumental and frightening changes have taken place and are taking place daily. For any of you that are paying attention, you knew that already.
But I am noticing those that are riding this wave, leaders in the administration and in congress - no one seems happy.
They Have Become the Thing They Fought Against
Those who have been triumphant having fought hard to pass historic legislation should be jubilant . . . or at least gracious. Instead we hear a great deal of anger.
The sad thing - and it truly is a sad thing - about many of those that lead our nation today is that they have become the thing many of them fought against all their lives.
It is characteristic of those that abandon all else in the pursuit of power - that having achieved their goal - they find the victory hollow.
". . . vanity, vanity . . . all is vanity says the preacher . . ."
Take for instance, those legislators that occupy the Congressional Black Caucus, they now find themselves reduced to the children whining about name-calling.
It was alleged that racial slurs were wielded during protests surrounding the passing of the recent major health care legislation. If it happened - racial slurs have no place in the platform of public discourse (or anywhere else for that matter) - these leaders do not get to play the victim any more. They are the leaders, they are in charge - they proved that when they passed the legislation despite the will of the people.
They hold the reigns of power now; they hold the leashes -as it were - of the attack dogs at Selma. I do not mean any disrespect to those who sacrificed so much for the right to be treated like anyone else. It just bears pointing out that these leaders hold power; it's time to stop feigning victim status.
A Purpose for the Place in Which We Find Ourselves
Today I read a portion of scripture from Deuteronomy 29, it described Israel's plight if they strayed from God's plan - judgment, destruction and the like. However, God added quickly that if they repented, He would turn things around for them.
This coupled with some verses about repentance from Joel 2, which a friend shared in a recent meeting I attended helped solidify for me the need for national repentance.
If God truly "governs in the affairs of men" as stated by Benjamin Franklin; and if we truly believe that God is sovereign and therefore ultimately in control of the events that occur here on earth, then we must assume that He has a purpose for the place in which we find ourselves.
What Could God's Purpose Be?
Like many people that observe politics, I have placed a great deal of hope in the electorate and the promise of a major voter backlash in the next election. That seems to be the only thing that can possibly happen within the confines of civility and law to change the devastating direction our country has taken.
However, this morning I took a different view; one that is more of the attitude of "embracing the cross". If this is God's plan, then I seriously doubt that His plan would be fulfilled by the Republicans taking congress in the Fall. Calling that a "victory" would be akin to electing McCain in the last presidential election - it would only prolong the misery.
No, there comes a time in which we just have to say, "go ahead with Your plan Lord, 'not my will but Thine'". There is a place in which our best option is to take whatever medicine we are given - no matter how bitter - just to have done with it.
I remember an "embracing the cross" moment that happened to me awhile back. R. and I had been struggling to stay together for some time. We had been on an emotional roller coaster - sometimes hopeful, other times devastated - for some time. We recognized that our marriage had not gotten into the shape it was in over night and it would not be reset over night, but it was hard.
Near the end of that "testing" period, God had especially done a work in me and helped me learn a great deal about myself and how I had so contributed to our struggles. It was then that I remember praying that He would not take me out of those struggles until it was His time. I was "embracing the cross" I wanted that test to be completed in its entirety because I did not want to go through that again!
Maybe that's where we are right now as a nation. Maybe God's definition of "done" is not a change in congress - not even a change in the presidency. Perhaps instead, He seeks a change in the hearts of our nation.
It is a Time for National Repentance
Man's response to guilt - man's way - is often to either hide it or to overcompensate for it.
Our nation, despite her honorable heritage, bears more than her share of guilt: When we look at the way our country clung stubbornly to slavery and when we view the way many of our grandparents turned a deaf ear to the cries of the victims of lynching and other abuses.
Through the years we have either ignored that guilt or we have overcompensated - we've attempted to assuage our guilt with our pocketbooks.
When we choose either of those false solutions we only exacerbate the problem.
Perhaps that is the reason that in spite of their positions of power, many of our national leaders still cast themselves as victims.
The guilt we bear as a nation can only be resolved through repentance - and I am not referring to "reparations", no that is just more trying to pay our way out of the problem.
We need to repent before God.
I truly believe that our current direction may bring irreparable damages upon our nation and our liberties. It saddens me to see such a great heritage thrown away so flippantly.
It is likely however, that we have the leaders we deserve for this time; perhaps we even have the leaders we need . . .
. . . . to either lead us into a proper recognition of the Sovereign God . . .
. . . . or to drive us there.
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