Aug
14
2015
The Winds Are Changing
Posted in Faith 2 Comments
Every time I am ready to write, I see a blank computer screen.
Instead of that being a bit daunting, it is exciting.
Exciting because I could not possibly write every day on my own.
I rely heavily on God for ideas and insights.
I trust that He will allow me to see and hear the littlest thing.
I know that He will help me apply that little thing to His Word.
I am certain.
I must be honoring.
I must honor Him with my writing.
I must honor Him with my words.
I must point people to Him through my examples.
I must expound on the Truth that I find in His Word.
That is the daunting part.
But I am in good hands.
I still have to wrestle with thoughts and the choice of words.
But in the wrestling process He helps me to empty myself of me and fill myself with Him.
To that end, I listen to the pulse beat of culture.
The Whispers are never intended to be a political platform.
However, sometimes something in the culture demands attention.
Sometimes, something bigger and greater and more magnificent is whispering as well.
We are in the months before a primary election.
There will be months of speeches, debates, rhetoric, and the status quo.
People, myself included, get tired and weary towards the end of that time.
Tired of the advertisements, tired of the phone solicitation, and tired of the mailings.
I sometimes think that is the intent.
Saturate the market with so much information that it blends together.
Bombard the people with so many promises that it is hard to discern the truth.
Sling enough mud at the other candidates that they are not seen as clearly as before.
These are horrible tactics.
Tactics that do not work on the intelligent people God created.
Tactics that are meant to alarm and shift the direction of the conversation.
Tactics that change the conversation from what is important to what is sensational.
We don’t give ourselves enough credit.
We have been sold a bill of goods that is no longer working.
We have been asked to politely sit on the sidelines while the political machine drones on.
We have been encouraged to leave our faith at the door and enter neutral territory.
There is no such thing.
The political machine thinks it can decide the next president and the next elected official.
The political machine forgets that it is only a machine.
A machine needs people to make it work or to dismantle it.
Perhaps the time is now.
When did it become necessary to have millions of dollars in order to run a campaign?
When did it become mandatory to have all the major party players behind you?
When did it become impossible for a non-career politician to win an election?
When did we the people become we the machine?
People are finally getting angry enough to want things to change.
People are finally becoming disturbed enough at the atrocities that have been revealed.
People are beginning to find their voice.
Finally the voice of the people is beginning to drown out the hum of the political machine.
Wind direction can be interpreted by wind socks, anemometers, and direction sensors.
Without technology, we can wet the tip of our index finger and hold it up in the air.
Water on our finger evaporates faster with a current of air flowing over it.
The side of our finger that feels coolest is the area from where the wind originates.
It is time to lick our finger and put it in the air.
It is time to see the direction of the wind change that seems to be sweeping the nation.
It may be a zephyr at the moment, but it is building up speed.
The winds of change are beginning to blow.
Machines break.
Good old-fashioned sweat equity is best.
Getting down in the trenches and listening to the people.
It is not about the amount of money or the political backing any longer.
It’s always been done this way is not working.
What happened to the courage of the Founders; what happened to a thinking populace?
If the Federalist Papers were published today, we would need cliff notes.
The Federalist Papers were published in a newspaper and read by the common man.
It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. (James Madison)
There was a notion of checks and balances.
Behind that notion lay a profoundly realistic view of human nature.
The government is to control the governed.
But more importantly, the government must be obliged to control itself.
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” (Judges 6:1-10)
Under an oak tree sat an unassuming man.
He was threshing wheat in a winepress in order to keep it from the Midianites.
An angel of the Lord appeared to this unassuming man, named Gideon.
The angel of the Lord said something unbelievable.
The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. (Judges 6:12)
Gideon was anything but a mighty warrior.
In fact, he was troubled by all the oppression that was going on around him.
If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?
The Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian. (Judges 6:13)
Gideon’s question was understandable.
Gideon’s statement was heartfelt amidst all the confusion and chaos.
The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family?” The Lord answered, “I will be with you…” (Judges 6:14-16)
Gideon’s clan was the weakest.
Gideon was the least in his family.
But Gideon was victorious.
He was victorious because the Lord was with him.
It is time to wet your finger and put it in the air.
Do you feel it?
The hum of the machine is not as loud as it used to be.
The winds are changing.
Amen! I agree with you that elections are getting out of hand, with it all starting 2 years before. How can elected officials really govern when they are campaigning at the same time? We need to go back and see how our government was set up in the beginning. There does need to be strong winds of change! God needs to be the One we please, not groups who support candidates who will do their bidding.
Sue,
We continue to pray.
God is Sovereign and none of this is a surprise to Him.
Gina