Tag Archives: Satan

Shattered!

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Shattered!

The screech of tires! The scream of a child! Our favorite place desecrated by a thoughtless act! These are but a few of the images that in a moment can burn into our mind and heart. To a lesser degree there are those conversations, meetings, news reports, sights and sounds of our busy world that pull us from some piece of sacred space ever closer to a precipice into the yawning jaws of fear, worry, or hopelessness.

None of us are immune from these things. “When I was prosperous I said, ‘Nothing can stop me now!’ Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.” Psalm 30:6-7.
“I cried out to you, O Lord. … Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord. You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!” (Psalm 30:8, 10-12)

I am thankful that the Psalmist did not stop with verse 7. But unfortunately we often do. We sometimes go days, weeks, months in our shattered state. This is all so unnecessary. Why do we do this?

I believe that there are two reasons why we do.

1) We have believed the world around us which with ever growing crescendo proclaims to us that the solution to our problems is in the right insurance, phone, detergent, car, music, etc. Mindlessly we rummage around for answers and fulfillment where none can be found and often in the act increase our problem.

2) We do not believe God. In God’s Word and the testimony of the Church triumphant we have ample evidence that trust in God is still the only way to “stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan” (Ephesians 6:16).

Today are we shattered? We cannot heal ourselves. We were never meant to heal ourselves. We have been created to live with God in constant connectedness. We have been and are lied to on a regular basis and told that we must do it ourselves. Yet the evidence floods our world that we are destroying our lives, others and our world. Our leaders can’t lead us out of this mess. Our doctors cannot cure all our ills. Our scholars cannot bring to us the wisdom we need to find our way.

There remains, as from the beginning, but one way to mend our shattered and broken lives.
“May God’s grace be upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.” Ephesians 6:24

Talking Heads

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Talking Heads

They speak with such eloquence. A team of busy ants working behind the scenes puts together, with great care and experience, every sound bite and graphic in order to convince us of the correctness or the incorrectness of each issue they are addressing.

Little by little these modern day TV evangelists who start our day have convinced us that everything is either right or wrong (depending on the political leanings of their particular network) and as long as we buy the products of their advertisers and live within the boundaries of political correctness all is well.

If, over time, we allow ourselves to be lulled by the sound of their perfectly modulated voices, their perfect coifs and clothing, and their slick presentation of the “facts” we may find that we have gradually lost the ability to think for ourselves.

Be wary of those who would shape your world view. What world are they referring to? Certainly this one, not the next. Their overreaching, overarching concern is always and only for the things of this world. As such, there is no concern for the fact that each and every last one of us stands condemned before a Holy God. In fact- their mission is to convince us that such a belief is pure nonsense. They drone on and on day in and day out, and if we are not careful, we find that their secular world view has replaced our Biblical one. With out lifting a finger Satan has driven The Gospel from our hearts and minds with the assistance of the smooth, practiced smiley faces of morning news network anchors. These purveyors of political correctness, demopublicans who proffer meditations on nothingness, have stolen the righteousness born only of God from or hearts and replaced it with a world view without purpose, without passion, and without praise. Where will we turn the next time the towers fall?