Sunday, July 03, 2011 "In troubled times" July 4th

Sunday, July 03, 2011

"In troubled times" July 4th

First From Julie's Keyboard:

As I sat down to write this evening, I was thinking of the week behind me and the many "troubling" reports that I had heard in the past seven days.  Only then, did I look at the subtitle of the blog for the week which was chosen by my husband.  (In troubled times)

Clearly my husband chooses to write information pertaining to our Nation and its heritage.  He researches carefully to give an accurate narrative of what actually took place.  I'm so thankful for his hard work.

However, I would like to pitch a few thoughts on "troubled times" in the life of God's people.  We're in them.  This is fair to say, don't you think?  People are facing challenging situations in measures they've never seen before.  Then in despair, many are turning to sources of relief that offer no permanent assistance.  What must we do in these "troubled times?"

Without faith in someone or something, mankind tends to be open prey for  whatever may come his way.  Who in their right thinking would want to be left to the vices of this world, or the ideology of "luck?"  Something substantial is certainly needed.  The only thing that can be absolutely relied upon is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He's told us not to be "troubled" but to be of good cheer.  I don't know about you, but I choose "good cheer" over "trouble" any day.  As believers we're supposed to know that we can trust Him and have peace and rest in Him.  If we seem to be struggling in these areas during these "troubled" days in which we live, an assessment may be needed in our lives.

Trouble may come, the enemy may come in "like a flood."  But, God has promised His faithfulness to us if we but trust in Him. 

 In the words of a great song, "There's peace in the time of trouble.  There's peace in the midst of the storm.  There's peace though the world be raging, in the shelter of His arms."    anon

I'll close with some Scripture passages that offer the much needed help we desire in these times.

John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Isaiah 59:19 "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.  When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

Have a blessed week as we enjoy our many freedoms,

Julie

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"In troubled times"

"Can you expect your brave men, officers and soldiers, that are now in the tented field subject to all the hardships and privations peculiar to a civil war like this, to have courage and march on with patriotism to crush treason on every battle-field, when you have not the courage to expel it from your midst ? Set those brave men an example. Say to them by your acts and voice that you evidence your intention to put down traitors in the field by ejecting them from your midst without regard to former associations.

But let us go on : let us encourage the Army and Navy; let us vote the men and means necessary to vitalize and bring into requisition the enforcing and coercive power of the Government ; let us crush out the rebellion and anxiously look forward to the day God grant it may come soon when the baleful comet of fire and of blood that now hovers over this distracted people may be chased away by the benignant star of peace.

Let us look forward to the time when we can take the flag of our country and nail it below the cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto, Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and for ever, and exclaim, Christ first, our country next !" - - - - Andrew Johnson. John Savage, The Life and Public services of Andrew Johnson, p. 247

It's that time of the year again, July 4th, Independence Day!  It is always a difficult task for me to set here and write something worthy of honoring this meritorious day. You always want to write or say something worthy of the read or the listening ear.  But certain days call to us for a deeper more profound effort. This is one of those days, one for which I always feel inadequate in my efforts.  This week as I pondered what to write the above quote kept coming to mind.  

I will avoid if possible the divisive nature of this troubled time in our history, as there are still many opinions as to the actions of those on both sides of our war between the states.  I myself find it perplexing to study, as I find the failures of human nature exemplified on both sides.  Yet at the same time I find faith in the human heart searching for the answers to the which it seems for that moment in history allude them both.

When you indulge yourself in the lives of men like Gen. Stonewall Jackson of the South, you find yourself walking with a man of great faith. 

"General" I remarked,  "How is it that you can keep so cool and appear so utterly insensible to danger in such a storm of shell and bullets as rained about you when your hand was hit?"  He instantly became grave and reverential in his manner, and answered, in a low tone of great earnestness: "Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me." He added, after a pause, looking me full in the face: "That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave" - - - - Lt. General Thomas Jackson speaking to then Captain John D. Imboden, Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War, G.F.R Henderson, Vol. 1, p. 163."

But then you indulge yourself in the lives of men like Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the North: "But we had with us, to keep and to care for, more than five hundred bruised bodies of men, - men made in the image of God, marred by the hand of man, and must we say in the name of God? And where is the reckoning for such things? And who is answerable? One might almost shrink from the sound of his own voice, which had launched into the palpitating air words of order - do we call it? - fraught with such ruin. Was it God's command we heard, or His forgiveness we must forever implore?" - - - -   Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.The Passing of The Armies Bantam Books, 1992.

And you find yourself again walking with a man of faith. 

I realize that the atheist at times read my blog and perhaps misunderstand the concept of the Christian faith.  I have noticed they at times seem to believe that Christians think themselves to be of more value than they.  That the Christian proclaims he has all the answers and knows the will and purpose of God. 

But in reality we as Christians find ourselves struggling most of our lives to find God's purpose for our individual lives, much less the direction of a nation.  We find our value only in what God has given to redeem us, which is the same value he placed upon every non-believer. 

The beginning quote of Andrew Johnson would be enough to send our current political society into a Constitutional Crisis over the 1st Amendment.  I find in our history a journey of men chosen by God, to lead a nation ordained of God, into the destiny of God.  But along the way I find the frailty of man and his fall struggling along the way. 

In previous generations our faith has caused us to search our hearts and discover our errors and repent of our misgivings.  It has caused us to re-group and try to right those errors and continue on our destiny. 

The quote from Mr. Johnson, "Let us look forward to the time when we can take the flag of our country and nail it below the cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto, Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and for ever, and exclaim, Christ first, our country next !"  was not a call to government to demand of everyman, bow his knee to Christianity, it was a release of hope from not just a man, but of a nation, a release of the faith that so long had endured in troubled times.

It appears troubled times may once again be upon us.  Only I do not hear the cry of faith as loudly as it was heard in the past.  I wonder if our nation can discern the time, discover our errors and repent of our misgivings.  I wonder if we can then regroup and right those errors and continue our destiny without that cry of faith?

We shall soon see,

May God bless each of you,

David