Reading:
Isaiah 1
The
year 2013 begins with a nation still grieving the tragic loss of 20
children and 6 teachers in Newtown, CT. As necessary and
appropriate as this grieving is, there is an unspoken national
hypocrisy going on. Many who grieve the loss of these children
through this gruesome slaughter would have celebrated had Adam Lanza
gone to medical school and become an abortionist. He could have
killed 20 children a week and been celebrated. Why? Because those
babies are viewed as infringing on the freedom or happiness of
another person, giving that person the right to be the judge, jury
over the child, and the doctor to be the executioner.
Just
because one person doesn't want a particular child, it doesn't lessen
the value, the human value, of that person. Adam Lanza apparently
did not want those children in Newtown, but that didn't make their
lives meaningless. And if a mother or father does not want a child,
or if the government of our nation does not want the children of
particular segments of our population, that does not make their lives
meaningless.
Since
1973 the number of children snuffed out through abortion is greater
than the population of half the states in our nation added together.
Or to look at it another way, it would be equal
to about the populations of California, New York state, Connecticut,
and Colorado added together. Where is the outrage? Where is the
media coverage? Where is the grief? This does not minimize the grief
of the families that suffered the loss of their children in Newtown,
nor does it minimize the greatness of the loss of each one of those
children. However, the
greatness of each of those children lost in Newtown, when understood,
magnifies the greatness of the loss through abortion.
Today
our nation faces many threats: lunatics like Adam Lanza or James
Eagan Holmes (Colorado movie theater shootings), terrorists desiring
the destruction of our nation, an economy at its breaking point,
moral chaos, and natural disasters the likes of “Superstorm Sandy.”
We may well view these issues as the cause of our nations woes,
the root problems themselves. However, I am not so sure they aren't
the result of our root problems. Like the faithful city of old,
the United States, also once a “faithful city” has become “an
adulteress”. How so? “Once full of justice” (no, not
perfect, but at least attempting to protect the helpless), “but
now, murderers!...they do not defend the rights of the fatherless.”
(Isaiah 1:21, 23)
How
did we get here? What is the root cause of these plagues on our
nation? I believe it may well be that we have
forgotten what the donkey remembers.
2Hear,
O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared
children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3The
ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does
not know, my people do not understand."
4Ah,
sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have
spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. 5Why
should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your
whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
(Isaiah 1:2-5)
Isaiah
is speaking to the nation of Israel, not the United States. However,
Old Testament Israel is in many ways a microcosm of the world. That
is to say, God chose Israel to be a messenger to the world. In her
disobedience she still fulfilled that calling by modeling for the
world the problem with rebellion against God. In truth, all people
owe allegiance to God (Acts 17:24-30), for God is the maker
and therefore rightful master of every nation. Whether a nation
is a Christian nation or not (if there is any such thing) doesn't
matter: even heathen nations owe allegiance to God and will suffer
harm for living in rebellion against Him. Therefore there is a lot
applicable from Isaiah to our own day and nation. Even a donkey
knows his masters feeding trough (Isaiah 1:3 HCSB), but as a
nation we have forgotten. We are in active forgetting mode:
actively trying to deny our Creator.
What
does this mean for believers? One may say, “I can't control what
the world around me does, so how does this effect me?” True enough,
we cannot make the world around us remember God. However, we too
must not forget our Master's feeding trough. Where are you feeding?
Where have you been feeding in 2012? Where are you going to be
feeding in 2013? This I know, if we are going to see a change in the
course of our nation it will come only when believers are remembering
our Master's feeding trough. It isn't the TV, the radio, the
onslaught of meaningless reading materials that are so popular today.
There is only one source of Living Water—Jesus Christ. And
the place where we feed on Him is through His word, by His Spirit in
the place of prayer. It is found in churches where the word of God is
proclaimed and explained. It is relationship with Him and His people.
I am
not talking about trying harder to be good Christians. That will
never do. I am talking about relationship with Him in truth.
Relationship that is rooted in how He has revealed Himself to all
mankind—the Gospel. Relationship that is personal. I am talking
about knowing where we find nourishment. You can't keep eating empty
food and expect to stay healthy. Spiritually, we must go to the
only place we can find real nourishment: to our Master's feeding
trough.
Remembering
our Master's feeding trough will be so vital for the church, for
every believer, in 2013. Only a church that is feeding in our
Master's feeding trough will ever be the witness of God to the world
of the life that is truly life. We may or may not ever get laws
passed that will protect the unborn, but if we are feeding in our
Master's feeding trough, we will have the courage to persuade the
mother of the unborn to choose life, we will have the compassion to
minister Gospel truth and forgiveness to the mother that has already
had an abortion, we will have the strength to adopt children, or
foster children, show mercy to the fatherless and orphans, or
strengthen the parents and family grieving the loss of their sons and
daughters in tragedies like Newtown. Only then will the church be
the church it is called to be.
Here
are some practical steps to take in order to feed at our Master's
feeding trough:
- Find a Bible Reading Plan that can work for you. Preferably one that is not dated so you won't get so discouraged if you fall behind. Here is the one I use. Develop a habit of reading that is similar to your habit of eating—regular and necessary.
- Find a church that is faithful to the Scriptures and be a faithful member there.
- Develop a regular habit of both private and group prayer. Use the Scriptures to help you pray. There are psalms and many prayers written in Scripture that will inform our prayer.
Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
