This morning I read the following article
It got me thinking
Interestingly enough, it got me thinking about a Psalm
Psalm 139
That a more conservative friend of mine invoked,
Suggesting that I was being naïve about the dangers of socialism.
And I ought to “get real.”
_____________________________
“A historic Republican defeat ought to provoke some
uncomfortable questions.
What went wrong? Why did voters reject us? Could our
policies be unpopular? Our leadership disastrous? Have we perhaps become
something Americans no longer want?
But those questions are dangerous. They might lead to
reflection. Possibly even accountability.
Fortunately, Fox had a better idea.
ROLL THE SOCIALIST MUGSHOTS!
One headline warned: “DEM WINNERS’ RADICAL AGENDAS
INDICATE PARTY’S PATH.”
Jesus Christ. You mean the people Americans elected might
actually pursue the policies they campaigned on? Somebody call the National Guard.
And there, in one glorious morning of television, was the
entire problem.
You don’t have to convince people Trump is honest if
you’ve convinced them Democrats are evil. You don’t have to defend his behavior
if you’ve convinced them the alternative is national suicide.
You don’t even have to sell them Trump. You just have to
sell them the apocalypse.
And the beauty of this arrangement is that it works long
after Trump is gone.
Yesterday, American voters handed Republicans an
unmistakable message and a rare opportunity to reconsider what they’ve become.
This morning, Fox News examined the wreckage, considered
the lessons, and reached its conclusion.
Clearly, we haven’t frightened these people enough.”
Mike
McCready
____________________________
In Psalm 139, the writer closes his poem with these
words.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and
know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in
the way everlasting.”
It is a laudable sentiment.
And people of faith often use it to point out the
importance of inner reflection.
Perhaps even radical honesty
The need to look at ourselves
Moral, ethically, and spiritually
But while the poem starts with amazing praise,
And while the author is in awe of how God has not just
created
But shaped and formed him,
Him
As an individual
The subject of the Psalm moves from
YOU (God)
To I (Me)
“I come to the end—I am still with you.
(Yay me)
O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the
bloodthirsty would depart from me—
those who speak
of you maliciously and lift themselves up against you for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not
loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.”
I am probably wrong, but this psalm seems so painfully
human
I love you, God!
I have been shaped by your hand.
I am a special agent of God.
And you have a plan for me.
Classic!
But then that twist
Oh, that you would destroy those I don’t like and who don’t
like me
Obliterate them,
But lead ME on the path everlasting
There is beauty here.
But there is also danger.
That we will slide into the piety of “search me”
With the certainty that God will find us better than
THEM
We know we are God’s favorite
We know we are on God’s side
So, God, bless us,
Obliterate them
How often, when we find ourselves in difficult times
How often, when we find ourselves surrounded by people
Who seem bent on our destruction,
How often, when bad things happen (like 9/11, for
example),
Do we honestly look at ourselves?
Do we really try to understand the ways in which we are
part of the problem?
Because I expect we are ALWAYS PART OF THE PROBLEM
Right now, the America right is doubling down on its
righteousness,
It is failing to look at its own failures
And is busily demonizing those they don’t agree with
(and lost to)
Demonizing THEM is always easier than looking at one’s
own heart
And one’s own actions
But let’s be honest.
The left (Democrats) has done, is doing, and will do
The same thing.
And thus will find that it may well
Fall into the same old patterns that didn’t work
That it will go back to being what it has always been,
Rather than be open to the winds of change
That the people need, want, and voted for
We must frustrate the Sacred, greatly
I keep thinking of the words from Isaiah
“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do
you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the
desert.”
I am about to do a new thing
I am always doing a new thing
WHY CAN’T YOU SEE IT?!
Why won’t you go with me?
As I make a way in the wilderness of hate and greed
And fill your empty, dry souls with love?
We have hit a pivotal moment as a nation.
God wants to do a new thing.
Will be slide into spiritual arrogance and expect God to
Change (or obliterate) everyone else?
Or will we be honest, truly honest, when we pray
“Search me, O God, and see where I need to change!
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done!”
