Yesterday was the annual reminder for so many kids that they are missing what other kids have. A father.
Yes, we all have heard the statistics about men abandoning their responsibilities like scared children and running from the task of sacrificial love that fatherhood requires. Yes, we have all heard the pep talks and the challenges of men needing to step up so that our nation will be healthy.
But yesterday I realized that our nation was missing ITS Father.
Children without fathers have it hard. We all know this is true. However, have we ever thought that nations without a heavenly Father have it hard too?
It's all over the Bible. The times when Israel walked with God and followed His ways were fantastic. They had peace on all sides from their enemies, they prospered, and they felt the blessing of God in their land.
Then they forgot.
Then they walked away.
Then they began to fail.
Is America Fatherless? Well, the answer is yes and no. Our Father has not abandoned us to the pursuit of His own pleasure or lack of caring. He has not orphaned us as people nor as a country.
It's just that we as a nation don't want Him around- unless there is a terrorist attack and some of us get real religious and spiritual for about a week, while other of us blame Him for caring about us as much as we care about Him.
But the plain and simple fact is that we in America bear the marks of a fatherless child. Most of us are trying to figure out life on our own, like fatherless children with no one to guide them. Most of us are concentrating mostly on the immediate moment instead of thinking long-term with purpose (like children without a father's wisdom to guide). We are engaging in behavior- spending habits, time-management habits, and destructive relationship patterns that lack the wisdom of an older, more mature person- most of which leave us empty and hurt.
Most orphans I know- if they knew they had a father waiting for them to return- would run like a bat out of hades to that father. I just wonder how long America will orphan itself from the love, care, guidance, and discipline of our loving Heavenly Father.
Yes, we all have heard the statistics about men abandoning their responsibilities like scared children and running from the task of sacrificial love that fatherhood requires. Yes, we have all heard the pep talks and the challenges of men needing to step up so that our nation will be healthy.
But yesterday I realized that our nation was missing ITS Father.
Children without fathers have it hard. We all know this is true. However, have we ever thought that nations without a heavenly Father have it hard too?
It's all over the Bible. The times when Israel walked with God and followed His ways were fantastic. They had peace on all sides from their enemies, they prospered, and they felt the blessing of God in their land.
Then they forgot.
Then they walked away.
Then they began to fail.
Is America Fatherless? Well, the answer is yes and no. Our Father has not abandoned us to the pursuit of His own pleasure or lack of caring. He has not orphaned us as people nor as a country.
It's just that we as a nation don't want Him around- unless there is a terrorist attack and some of us get real religious and spiritual for about a week, while other of us blame Him for caring about us as much as we care about Him.
But the plain and simple fact is that we in America bear the marks of a fatherless child. Most of us are trying to figure out life on our own, like fatherless children with no one to guide them. Most of us are concentrating mostly on the immediate moment instead of thinking long-term with purpose (like children without a father's wisdom to guide). We are engaging in behavior- spending habits, time-management habits, and destructive relationship patterns that lack the wisdom of an older, more mature person- most of which leave us empty and hurt.
Most orphans I know- if they knew they had a father waiting for them to return- would run like a bat out of hades to that father. I just wonder how long America will orphan itself from the love, care, guidance, and discipline of our loving Heavenly Father.
Do you think that since Americans often "don't want Him around" and we have developed so many other gods that what happened to Israel and Saul ( 1 Samuel 28:19) is happening or will to the U.S.?
ReplyDeleteI believe it is happening right now. If you look around the world, the world center for Christianity has moved to Africa and Asia, and God is blessing those places in amazing ways.
ReplyDelete