“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.” (Jer 15:16, NIV)
You would have to have your head buried in the sand to not notice that our world is in a very complex and divided place at the moment. Now I have to admit that I’ve never really been interested in world news, but as a Christian, I can’t help but keep my ears open to the world around me because it helps me to understand how the gospel might be applied to the world’s biggest questions and fears. For the most part getting this information has happened through various conservative Podcasts so that I can monitor what type of information that I’m hearing, because as you well may know, secular news outlets are very bias in their opinion.* Now one bit of information that has really caught my attention in this past week is an interview that Donald Trump did with the CNN. And it caught my attention because so many conservatives have expressed their relief in this politician coming back on the scene. Now it’s not my purpose here to comment on American politics or certain individuals, as we should pray for leaders no matter who they are (Ex 22:28, Ecc 10:20, 1 Tim 2:1-2). No my purpose here is to comment on people’s reactions of utter relief and hope for the future now that someone has said that they can fix all the worlds problems.
Now, why might this have caught my attention? Well, because as I mentioned in my blog last week, nothing that has been created really knows the future (Isa 43:9,46:10) unless it has been revealed to them by God (Deut 18:20-22, Ps 33:11, Rev 1:1). So when anyone comes on the scene declaring that they can reverse a national economic downfall and cause wars in other countries to cease in a day, they are speaking words and that’s about all they are speaking…words (even if they really believe what they are saying can happen). So really if you think about it, any relief and hope that people have expressed has come by putting their trust into a smoke screen of sorts, because as the bible reveals, no creature really knows what’s going to happen in the future.
Well, this is where we can have real relief and hope in this world because dear ones our trust isn’t put in the words of a mere creature but in the words of the Creator Himself (Deut 29:29). And that’s what we have to remember as we look at the world around us, which as its been said, is in a very complex and divided place. No, we mustn’t be like the rest of the world who trusts in either themselves, false idols, world leaders or governments to bring them peace, because none of those things actually can guarantee anything with %100 certainty no matter what they promise. No, we have the very words of God given to us so that we might know what to put our hope in. It’s no wonder Jeremiah said that he ate the words of God when they were revealed to Him, because in his context, because of Israel’s kings, he lived in some of the darkest times of national unrest but God spoke and because those words came, real peace could be experienced by God’s people (Jer 17:7-8).
And that’s what we have, we have the words of God revealed to us and written down in the Bible (Prov 22:19-20, Lk 1:3-4, Mt 4:4,7), which tells us that there is a king who is on the throne, ruling this world (Ps 2, Isa 9:7) and it is this king who not only has the nations under his feet but death is about to submit to him as well (1 Cor 15:25-26). And we are told that whoever puts their trust in him will never taste final and lasting death (Jn 5:28-29), but live for eternity in God’s new heavens and earth (Rev 21:1-7). The world doesn’t need to hear another politician make promises that may or may not happen to bring them ultimate peace. No, the world needs good news that has been revealed by their creator, which they can put their trust in which brings the ultimate peace between all of us and our God. So instead of looking to mere people for peace, read and share the very words of God with all.
*The Briefing with Albert Mohler and Quantum: The Wee Flea Podcast are great Christian news shows