Speaking into TV cameras the first knee-jerk response of local and
national leaders is: “We will rebuild.”
It’s as if the only actions required are “rescue” or “rebuild.”
That comment plays well to locals and to voters but it misses God’s
signals. There’s a Living God Who is Sovereign
over all and Who speaks to us, even using disasters, to get us to return to
Him.
Our ancestors in this nation understood this spiritual
principle. When the Pilgrims faced a severe drought,
they set aside a day of prayer, fasting and repentance. At the end of that day the rains came,
blessing their crops. And in the dire
stages of the Revolutionary War and Civil War national leaders set aside days
of prayer, fasting and repentance. In
confirmation of Scripture, (2 Chronicles 7: 13-15), repentance by those
believing in the Living God then triggered God’s supernatural miracles,
blessing this nation.
Current leaders either don’t know our history or don’t know the Bible
or are hiding under political correctness, afraid to offend voters by proposing
a Biblical solution.
Story after story in the Bible recounts God’s use of disasters to attempt
to awaken His People to reflect on their standing with Him, to repent of their
ways, to return to His Divine Protection. When in our human arrogance we vow to rebuild
out of our own strength, it mocks God and spells disaster. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s best-selling book , The Harbinger, clearly shows how
repentance now is the only way to avoid the same disaster ancient Israel
experienced when they vowed to rebuild out of their own strength instead of
repenting and returning to their Lord.
But The Harbinger message
is not reaching key leaders. For example, recently disaster again struck New
Jersey, burning down the “FunTown” boardwalk.
Clearly it was a sign of the
Lord’s displeasure: only weeks earlier, instead
of following God’s Word and encouraging persons to come out of and reject the
same sex lifestyle, New Jersey politicians passed a law prohibiting a parent
from seeking professional counsel for any child confused about their
gender.
When sin is called righteousness and darkness is called light then
the righteous will be called evil. Light will be called darkness. Those standing up for Biblical principles
will be adjudged as harmful to society and persecuted. Persecution
of Christians will seem to be the right thing to do.
This was also the conclusion of Justice Kennedy in the recent Defense
of Marriage decision. He declared that
the drawing of distinctions between traditional marriage and “gay” unions is to
“demean,” “humiliate” and “injure” gays.
Bible-believing Christians are now defined as those harming society!
“FunTown” is now in ruins on the New Jersey Boardwalk. Yes, we need to help businesses rebuild. But individually and as a nation will we stop
to reflect upon what the Creator named in the Declaration of Independence is
saying to us? Having reflected, having
sought the spiritual meaning of the disaster, will we sincerely repent for our
apathy? ...For our apostasy for not standing up for Biblical Truths? ...For fearing what others will say instead of
fearing Him?
So, like “Reading, Riting’ and Rithmatic”—we need to get back to the basic
fundamentals. We’re missing two of the
three spiritual “Rs.” Instead of rushing
from rescue or rebuild, it’s time to add the critical elements of reflection
and repentance, personally and nationally.
If we fail to do that, the beacon of Light and Liberty that once was
the United States of America, now dramatically dimming as we watch with alarm, will
be rightfully extinguished by the One Who is always sovereign. That Living God is the One Who first placed
that Light and Liberty beacon in our midst. It was His Divine gift for us to
cherish and pass on. Only sincere
repentance will cause Him to relight it.
************
“Then I set my face toward the
Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth
and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my
God, and made confession, and said: “ O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps
His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His
commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and
rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments….all this
disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our
God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.” Daniel 9: 3-5, 13.
PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father,
Most High and Holy God…We’re good at Rescue and Rebuild but, unlike our
ancestors, we’ve omitted reflection and repentance before rebuild.
“Consider it pure joy, my
brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the
testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work
so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you
lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding
fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not
doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the
wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a
double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
~JAMES 1: 2-8
. And without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he
exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
“By faith Noah, when warned about
things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith
he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by
faith.
“By faith Abraham, when called to
go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even
though he did not know where he was going.”
Hebrews 11:5-9
~by Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly
~by Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly
Pastor
Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s
Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal
to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration
–Both
are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org
or
by emailing him at
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