The Root of the Problem

What a difference a week makes!  Last Monday we were celebrating.  We were, at least for the day, a united people focused on parades and picnics and fireworks.  We were waving our flags and singing patriotic songs.  We were proud to be Americans.

And then all that changed.  Then came the shootings.  And we exchanged our pride for fear and anger.  We stopped being patriotic and started being political.  Far too many in the public eye began finger-pointing and fear-mongering, none of which is helpful and none of which solves anything.

As I think back over the last week here in our country, my heart is broken.  As a nation, we are in a mess.  And it is my belief that the root of all our problems is not political corruption or strained race relations or a bad economy or political rhetoric.  Those are only symptoms of the problem.  At the very root of our problems is the fact that as a nation, we have turned our back on God.  We have abandoned the core principles of our founding documents.  And we are paying the price.

We who are God's people must recognize where we fit into this picture.  We need to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.  Being part of the solution means we need to stop expecting non-believers to act like believers.  And being part of the solution means that we who are believers need to start acting like it!

Yesterday in our Life Group, we continued our study in 1 Samuel.  Our text was          1 Samuel chapter 15, and our topic was obedience, certainly a timely topic.  What Samuel said to King Saul, and what God is saying to us today is, to obey God is better.

"To obey is better than sacrifice......." (1 Samuel 15:22)

To obey God is better.

To obey God is better than political solutions or political rhetoric.  To obey God is better than being caught up in emotion and fear and hate.  To obey God is better than good intentions.

To obey God is better.

How well are we - you and I and all who call themselves Christian - obeying God? 

How well, for example, are we obeying these words of Scripture:

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  (Matthew 22:39)

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."  (Matthew 5:44)

"Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger." 
(James 1:19)

We learned yesterday that obedience is better.  Obedience is everything.  Obedience is intentional.  Obedience means letting God set my priorities.

Obedience requires that I pay attention to what God says.  And it requires some self-examination.  Which leads to the verses our pastor used as the text for the morning message yesterday:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"
(Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)

What does all this have to do with current events in our country?  This:  it's time to stop pointing fingers at what others may or may not be doing wrong, and ask God to show us what we, individually, may or may not be doing wrong.

Search me.

Know my heart.

Try me.

Know my thoughts.

Is there any grievous way in me?

Lead me.

Certainly we as a nation have strayed far from God's ways.  But a nation is made up of individuals.  It's time that we as individuals begin to live in full obedience to God's ways.  When that happens, then we will see a change in the nation.

"Go home.  Lock yourself in your room.  Kneel in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle round yourself.  There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival in that chalk circle."  - Gypsy Smith