This is a follow up from last week where I wrote about “Government Supposed to Bring Hope!” Has the government ever done anything that caused you to lose hope? It has for me. What is the solution? Why does God use evil nations to affect change in His people? Let me share with you what I learned about government and how it sometimes destroys hope.
First, I would like to look at the history of good and bad kings in the Bible. We find that after od’s people were divide into two separate kingdoms, Israel, which were the tribes of Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon and Zebulun and Judah, which were the tribes of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, all of the nineteen Kings of Israel were evil in the sight of the Lord except for one who was both good and bad and some of the twenty Kings of Judah were good, four, and some were bad, twelve, and some were both, four. As a result, God needed to get their attention. He did this by sending prophets to warn the evil kings. When the prophets did not have success God put on the pressure because God’s people were straying away from Him and God needed to get them to refocus. He sent nations in to conquer Israel and Judah. Specifically the Assyrians, who God later punishes and the Babylonians.
The concept of God using worse nations to discipline Israel and Judah, is made clear in 2 Kings 18:9-12, “In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lordcommanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.” (ESV) Thus my question is, “Is God using ungodly people in our own government to discipline His Church, I believe the answer is yes. Is it causing some believers to lose hope? Again, I say yes. In some ways I fit into this area. I have decided to leave Minnesota because of the radical anti-Christian legislation just past and signed by the government. I am having a hard time believing the actions are reversable. I understand that I need to have faith in God because after all God made a promise in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (ESV) I must remember that this promise came after seventy years in exile. So maybe we are due to have seventy years of bad government before it gets good again.
I pray you that you use difficult times in your nation or state to grow because I believe that that is the purpose for trials. Then, you will live with hope. It is through a relationship with God through Jesus that solves the problem of sin and brings us hope in the present and the future. I would also encourage you to seek Jesus for He is the only opportunity there is to have eternal life. This is to me the greatest source of hope. In doing so, I believe we will have hope and joy in our everyday lives. Understanding how Jesus Christ grants us access to eternal life, allows us to live in hope. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 (ESV) At the same time understanding you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ will also bring you the greatest hope. Because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
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You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
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