Hello everyone.
So a lot is going on in the world, eh? Sometimes it can feel like the weight of it all is on your shoulders. I know that I’ve been feeling it.
I have this interesting combination of feelings lately — blips of anxiety followed by an extreme sense of calm and then occasional depression. I’ve never been afraid to say “I don’t know” but for the first time, there’s actual stake in those words.
Throughout the summer in 2020, I was glued to my phone. Watching live streams and journalists on the scene of the horrifying violence in the major cities of America. It was crushing. Not necessarily shocking, but I was saddened to see how many of my so-called “friends” were partaking in these angry acts of the flesh. After a while, I retreated into scripture and the works of the great apologists. It saved me.
We tend to think that our current surroundings are the be-all and end-all.” No one else understands. I’m so alone. It’s over.” But we forget that our time has not been and will not be the only time of tribulation. I think a lot of nonbelievers look at Christians as these over-optimistic romantics. They assume that most of us think of God as some sort of magic genie in the sky who grants our every wish. Nothing in scripture or Christian history even begins to hint at this. This is an assumption of modern Christian branding.
In my honest opinion, a lot of modern Christianity makes a mockery out of Christ. When we start from the time in history when the Bible was written, we see how much suffering our siblings have had to endure. Look at the Lives of the Saints for example. It is so important that we remember them to bring perspective into our own lives. The book of Job — also known as “the book of Suffering” — shows us that hard times are often an attack of the enemy. Evil is real. I cannot stress this enough. God has offered us grace through Jesus Christ even though we are not deserving. Could it be that we’re being taught a lesson now? We have been offending Him for far too long don’t you think?
As my influx of emotion has reached max capacity, I have retreated into the Psalms over the past few days. We forget how relevant this ancient wisdom is to all of human history — especially today. Psalms 10-12 reads:
10 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. 4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” 5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgements are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.” 7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” 12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call into account”? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none. 16 The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. 17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
11 In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, 2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; 3 if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. 5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 6 Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
12 Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. 2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, 4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” 5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” 6 The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. 7 You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. 8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Does this sound familiar? I know, I thought so too.
