I don’t know if you feel it or not, but there seems to be a lot of unrest in our country at the present time. Today in Washington, lawmakers are trying to come to a consensus on how they plan to “bailout” Wall Street and aid our credit markets. Our troops have not stopped fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan or serving our country in other areas of the globe. Many of our “neighbors” are just now returning to their hurricane-ravaged homes in Galveston, Texas and other surrounding areas. We also have an election looming and whoever fills the role of President is sure to have his hands full come January 2009.
The Shoals area has not been immune to what is happening in our country or around the globe. The Shoals has been cited as one of the slowest wage-growth areas in the country. This doesn’t help when you consider that the cost of living has risen since last year. Many of the folks around us are struggling to make ends meet, while others look like they have it together but inwardly are falling apart.
RPC is not immune from all that is going on in the world around us either. You and I are not getting younger. Life has not stopped or even slowed down for many of us. As Christians we struggle to try to love our Lord and one another only to find ourselves stumbling and falling down, rather than walking with God. It’s easy to begin to think that God’s not really good and that our lot in life is helpless or even hopeless.
If any of you are like me and are at times troubled, overwhelmed, frustrated, and/or angered with all the above, there is good news. As Christians God’s word, while understanding all our fears, frustrations, and feelings will not let us stay there. To any that don’t yet know Christ, God’s word invites you to find joy and meaning even in troubled times in the person of Jesus Christ. We are reminded in God’s word that it’s our Lord that rules sovereignly over all things Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” It is in God’s word that we are reminded that it is ultimately God who appoints leaders to rule for ill or well Romans 13:1 “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” God’s word instructs us to pray for our leaders 1 Timothy 2:1-2 "I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks, be made for all men: for kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence.” It’s Jesus who told us in His Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Even in the midst of trials or in the middle of seasons of refreshment, we are called to “stand firm in the Lord” and “Rejoice in the Him always.” Phil. 4:1and 4.
As I write this, I am reminded of one of George McGuire’s recent sermons to us at RPC on Psalm 121. As we look at all that is going on in our own hearts and in the world around us, let us be a people who cast our gaze heavenward and remember that He who made heaven and earth will not let our feet continue to stumble. He, at all times, is our Helper and Keeper.
Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
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