September 10 I Friday

Proverbs 8-9

2 Corinthians 3

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’”    —Psalm 2:1-3

When we look around our world today, we see the outcomes of a humanity that is raging against God. There are savage expressions of this rebellion—we see it in wars that are pervasive throughout our human history. Our world is in chaos.

      We see it in the sin of greed, as we try and get cheap merchandise that leads to the marginalization of other populations or even slavery in other parts of the world, where sweatshops make clothing at a fraction of the cost. We see it in the evidence of poverty around the world, where there is enough for everybody’s needs, but not for everyone’s greed. We see natural disasters in our world, the creation groaning with hurricanes, famines and plagues as we exploit the natural resources. All of these are symptoms of a creation raging against the Creator.

      There are also subtle expressions of the rage against God: our post-modern warping of the truth, our secular society that wants to throw off all restraints and our sexuality that wants freedom of expression. Oftentimes, the truth that is propagated in our society and our post-modern sensibility is that there is no absolute truth: “You define your own truth, and I define mine. You live by yours, and I will live by mine.” There could be many paths to spirituality or a total rejection of spirituality altogether.

      We elevate our freedom of choice to do what we determine best with our bodies and, oftentimes, that results in more death with abortions. Our culture practices a situational ethic that moves with the cultural winds. Since the pandemic, Canada has had over 25,000 deaths due to COVID-19. Our government spared no expense to try and contain this deadly virus by shutting down the economy and limiting people’s freedoms and movements, all in an effort to preserve life. Yet, in 2020 alone, there were approximately 100,000 aborted babies. Sadly, some of us have become comfortable with that dichotomy. Os Guinness once said, “Either we conform our desires to the truth or we conform the truth to our desires.” Where do we stand in Guinness’s statement?

      Paul tells us in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” What it reveals to us is that even when we have the desire to do good, we struggle with the reality. These are symptoms of a root problem—the real pandemic—gripping humanity, our rage against God.

      May we examine our hearts for the obvious and subtle expressions of our rage against our Creator.

Prayer: Dear God, please forgive my rage against You. I humbly come before You and submit all of my life to You. Thank You, God.