In Times Like These
(Note: This post was originally authored after the 2020 Presidential Election.)
After an unsettled and unsettling night America shutters. How now, America?
There is nothing more uncertain that the emergence of the introduction of the new order of things.
Your uncertain tomorrow won’t cause you anxiety if you meet it with the God who blessed you yesterday.
The future is uncertain, but our God isn’t. From His Word we read:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Richard Hofstadter in one of his essays wrote descriptively of our hour.
“The nation seems to slouch onward into its uncertain future like some huge inarticulate beast, too much attainted by wounds and ailments to be robust, but too strong and resourceful to succumb.”
Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower reminds us of how we should respond personally in such a time. “Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.”
Lift up your downcast heart. True faith resides in the ability to trust God. This is our hour to prove we do.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:6-7)
The storm clouds of World War II were gathering when young Princess Elizabeth, aged 13, handed the following poem to her father, King George VI, as he prepared to address the British Empire in his 1939 Christmas broadcast. His quoting of it calmed his uncertain nation. May it do the same to all who read it now. It is entitled “God Knows.”
“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied:
‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”
Take this text as your by-word: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” (Psalm 56:3)