Testing My Faith

 

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Romans 1:19

 

My heart sank when I saw it. It was an advertisement for a tanning salon. The young woman in the photo was in a seductive pose with almost nothing on. It was on a website many people go to. I had a moment of anxiety as I thought about who would see that ad.

I have been experiencing that anxious feeling more frequently lately as I read and listen to various avenues of “news.” There are several things that seem to be everywhere. These occupy my mind, a lot:

• Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are our choices for President (at least that how it looks from here). No bright future for America that I can see.
• Abortion is still talked about as an “option” for unplanned pregnancies.
• Economic indicators for our nation look grim.
• Pornography is a growing problem, even in the church of Jesus Christ.
• And, just today, a young man walked into our yard in broad daylight and stole our grandson’s bike.

Of course, there are other minor things happening in life that are also sources of stress. I am usually able to get through those without anxiety.

I teach women to “preach to their own hearts what they know to be true about God.”  I have not been doing that. This morning, God reminded me that He is sovereign over all aspects of life, so:

• Both Clinton and Trump will stand before God at judgment, and answer for their decisions and “every careless word that comes out of their mouths.” So will I.
• Those who perform abortions will be murderers before God.
• God uses economic crises to draw our attention back to Him. He says we cannot serve Him and money.
• It is man’s (and woman’s) sin that has created the pornography crisis, not God. Romans 1:24-25 say, “ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,  because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” When a culture doesn’t care about sexual integrity, He warns us, we will pay for it.
• And, in a nation where the law of God is not respected or followed, the children are going to be doing “what they think is right in their own eyes,” at younger ages. I thank God that someone saw that young man and he was caught. I pray the Lord will convict him.

 

None of these things is a surprise to God. He will sustain us through these days as He sustained His faithful remnant through the exile in Babylon. But, like them, we are going to suffer the consequences of not speaking up sooner to proclaim Christ as King.

Thank God, He has given us the hope of Isaiah 9:7 “of the increase of the government and peace there will be no end.”

These circumstances are temporary in history. There is hope for future generations, if we, as Christians, begin to speak the Truth about our great God and His Law as the way to a better future.