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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Subliminal Hope

I've had a lot of things on my mind this week. Haven't you? There's so many that I don't know what to talk about. I've logged on here to write my weekly blog post several times, but I always end up giving up. Everything I write seems very scattered.

I wanted at first to talk about fear, in response to all the fearmongers; they are constantly telling us that the economy is crumbling, the Swine flu is moving in, and we have no way of escaping any of it. I understand that we are living in scary times, and that even Christians can feel fear, but unlike the unsaved among us, we have nothing to lose, even if we die. I wanted to remind you that the Bible says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1: 7 KJV). Try as I might, I couldn't seem to express my thoughts well on that subject. I finally decided that it would mean enough to you if I just reminded you of that verse. It really needs no elaboration.

Then I thought I might talk about people who emerge in times of crisis to take advantage of all the troubled people around them. I keep hearing about these people, and it upsets me every time. I think I find it troubling that this behavior is accepted in our society. We make heroes out of everyone, and call every strong personality a leader, but some of these people are not worthy of our attention. God's standard for leadership is humble service, first to Him, and then to our fellow man. An immoral man can seem like a savior, but if he doesn't submit his life to God, he is really an antichrist. Such a man's lifestyle is diametrically opposed to God and His holy standards. Christians should beware anyone who has a strong following, but who doesn't make a point to obey God at all times, even when he stands to offend someone or lose something by doing so.

I couldn't seem to write a decent post about that topic, either.

I still felt like I had an obligation to give you something good, so I thought I'd just end it with a message from someone who was a real leader in hard times.

David was humble before God, and willingly obeyed God, even while he was being hunted by his old friend, King Saul. A group of men who had come upon hard times under King Saul's reign gathered around David. He could have preyed upon these men's fears, and used them to advance himself and become the king of Israel, as he knew he would someday become. Instead, David chose to spare Saul's life and treat him with more respect than even his men could grant the king. This of course offended some of his men, but the fact that they honored his wishes proves that people respect God's kind of leadership more than they do the world's idea of leadership.

Remember, David didn't know if he was going to live to see another day. He had some close calls, when Saul narrowly missed him. David could have given up in the face of what seemed like insurmountable odds, but instead he put his trust in God, and tried, by his example, to teach his men to do the same. If we can learn anything from this troubled time in King David's life, it's that the stronger our enemies appear to be, and the more insurmountable our troubles appear, the more we see the greatness of God's power. In David's words,
The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1 NIV)

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