What is the Lord Doing in the World Today?

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Scripture: Genesis 18:17-19 (NRSV)

17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Devotion:

            The story told in today’s scripture proceeds the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It tells us that the Lord often warns us that he is about to execute judgement on a land. Some in the church today say that the Lord no longer does this. God has stopped communicating with us in this way. I, however, am open to the Lord seeking to warn his people of impending danger and judgement even today. If God so loved the world that he would send his one and only son to die for our sin, God certainly loves us enough to send out warning signs ahead of any judgement.

            Today, I believe the warning signs are flashing all around us: Danger Ahead! The litany of ills facing this world today would make Sodom and Gomorrah blush. We see danger from pandemics, wars, famines, economic turmoil, and the list goes on and on. We may in fact be too late in issuing the warning because the judgement may have already begun. Our leadership both in this country and world seems woefully inadequate to handle the situation this old world is facing. We see signs of decay and destruction all around us and there seems to be little that can be done about it.

As Pastor Tony Evans writes in his new book Kingdom Politics: “If we are tired of witnessing decay in our land, we need to make it a higher priority to emphasize God’s perspective in political discussions and actions. Whether politicians are Democrats or Republicans, they are to govern according to God’s perspective on whatever the issue is. As long as the enemy can keep us illegitimately divided, whether by making us more Democrat than Christian, or more Republican than Christian, then we are aiding and abetting the deterioration and the destruction of the culture.”

            Here we see our problem laid out before us. Our country puts almost any identity before being Christian. Our politicians must begin to exhibit Christian attitudes and actions before we can hope to see any recovery in America. Some may attempt to end the discussion using the hackneyed phrase “we must have separation of church and state.” While I am sure Thomas Jefferson had good intentions when he first used the phrase, I am sure he would be frightened by what it has come to mean. While having an individual denomination or religious organization as our government would be at least as bad as what we have now. Jefferson never meant that God was to be kicked entirely out of government.

            Whether the world knows it or not we live in a theocracy already. In Revelation 19:16 we see Jesus victorious over the Devil with the following written on his thigh: “On his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Meditate for a moment on those words. Every king, president, prime minister, or other ruler already serves the risen Jesus whether they acknowledge it or not. We need to pray that the world’s leaders would acknowledge Christ’s kingship voluntarily. Because if Jesus must do it by force the disaster is simply too great to imagine.

Prayer:

            As followers of Jesus, we unite our hearts in prayer for this world. Everywhere we look we see signs of decay and destruction. Evil seems to be running the show. Yet we know that we worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that all will be put right according to his decree. Help us to work toward that day by being obedient to him. Loving him will all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. While loving our neighbor no matter how much they hate his name. Come quickly Lord. Save us. Amen

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