Trying Times Ahead

“The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord God has said about Edom: We have heard a message from the Lord; a messenger has been sent among the nations: ‘Rise up, and let us go to war against her.’ Look, I will make you insignificant among the nations; you will be deeply despised. Your presumptuous heart has deceived you, you who live in clefts of the rock in your home on the heights, who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you seem to soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down.” (Obadiah 1:1-4) [Emphasis mine.]

While I read this passage, I was struck by how it might be applied to the current slate of tragedies unfolding in America today. Now, don’t mistake what I’m saying. This slice of Scripture is specifically about the judgment against the nation of Edom. It would be a horrible misinterpretation to say otherwise. But all the same, the language used reminded me of the precarious state of our country.

Are we not enormously self-righteous, casting down from on high our belief in a self-superior status? Doesn’t America believe itself a holy nation despite abundant evidence to the contrary? Is it not true that in the wake of wars, terrorism, and overseas skirmishes that the other nations of this earth have come to deeply despise us?

Let me clarify that I am not advocating some form of revolution. I’m not saying that men should rise up against the supposed tyranny of the government—were that even possible. Nor am I asking that efforts be put into changing the nation into some form of theocracy. Why? Because men’s hearts are too hard, too rebellious, too sinful for an undertaking like that to ever work.

What I’m speaking to is the disillusionment amongst the people of this nation and the ever-increasing hatred against her. People within and without rise up in violence against America. Social justice activists campaign against both the government and objective morality. Supremacists fester in their hatred for other races. Christians are told that their beliefs don’t matter and that they must conform to the world’s increasing secularization and harmonization of disparate and incompatible beliefs. Politicians and businessmen wheel and deal while ignoring the pleas of an ailing nation.

At some point, this will all come to a head. I don’t know when or how widespread the violence and hysteria will be. Who is to say how close we are to the end times? Certainly not I or anyone who has read Scripture will dispute:

“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father only. As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark.” (Matthew 24:36-38)

The only thing a discerning Christian can say is this: we do not know the hour, but every day is one day closer to His return. It may not be for another thousand years, but every second that passes is one step toward His coming.

In the meantime, what must we endure? Before His glorious arrival, to what tribulation must we bear witness? If we don’t come together in harmony, will there be a second American Civil War?

For all our sakes, I pray that this is not what we can expect from this wounded nation. We haven’t ever recovered from the first battle between brothers. What good will another do?

None.

Thanks for reading, God bless, and may we all be ready for the trying times ahead.

*Feature image of The Battle of Antietam taken from History.com