In Returning...

February 18

Man, who considers himself to be the master of all he surveys, trusts in the power of his knowledge and his reason. The consensus, in an age of scientific achievement that is unparalleled in the annals of mankind’s accomplishments, is that there is no problem that cannot be resolved through modernity’s enlightenment.

Yet we live in a world that is fraught with decline and failure on every hand! National economies that were once robust and thriving are plunging toward bankruptcy. Medical science, once unleashed to discover cures for all that ails mankind has been shackled by legislation that potentially places government bureaucrats in charge of man’s health and well-being.

Peace is an elusive entity that seems ever beyond the reach of those who pursue it through negotiation. In the tinder box of the Middle East, the tiny yet vibrant nation of Israel is demanded to exchange ‘land for peace’ with a bellicose people whose desire is not just for her land but for her eradication. Rather than blame the perpetrators of evil, we blame those who merely defend themselves. Where have we gone wrong in our pursuit of the ‘good life’? Perhaps the answer to that lies in the fact that we are trying to attain what is unachievable without the Prince of Peace.

At a point of perplexity in antiquity, Jehoshaphat advised the King of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord,” I Kings 22:5. In an age when we have chosen to put God out of everything, when we can’t say the name of Jesus in our corporate prayers, should we be surprised that everything has gone wrong? Perhaps we must heed the counsel of the prophet in Isaiah 30:15, “In returning (to God) shall you be saved.”