WHOSE JOB IS IT?

A valuable lesson I learned long ago was to ask “whose problem is this?” Sometimes we think things are our problems to solve, when they really aren’t. They belong to another, or to God Who really owns everything anyway. This was brought home to me when I read a text message from a relative who was criticizing the President of the United States. Now, I have read my Bible through many times over the years and I do not find it written anywhere where God says it is our job to find fault with our leaders. In fact, if you read Romans 13, He says quite the opposite! I quote “Let every person be loyally subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God – by His permission, His sanction, and those that exist do so by God’s appointment” (Amplified version). Now, if that is true, then when we criticize the governing authorities, we are telling God that we are smarter than He is and we know better than He does who should be in power. Is this a CHRISTIAN attitude? Yet I hear people do it all the time. Do you have to like the person in power, NO, but they are human like us and to publically defame them is against everything Scriptural.

Remember that those words were spoken in a time when Rome was very cruelly ruling over most of the known world – including Israel. In fact, it was the Romans who drove the Jews out of Jerusalem and most of the rest of Israel and burned down the Temple. The Romans instituted the death by crucifixion. Remember, Jesus predicted that the Temple would be rubble. The ruler of the time said, “no, don’t tear down the Temple”. Was Jesus wrong? No, the emperor was. You see when they set fire to the Temple, all the gold melted and coated the bricks so that the people rushed in to salvage the gold. You can read in Kings how much gold Solomon used when he built the Temple. So Jesus, Who is God become flesh for us, knew exactly what would happen to the Temple. Yet, the words of Romans 13 are true to the nature of God. He rules, He puts people in power and when He is finished with them, He takes them out! Do we believe that? As a nation, I don’t think so.

Another thing that has bothered me is that recently on some media (either web or TV) someone was making a point that we have one sure thing that we can trust. Was that God? Was it Jesus? No, it was SCIENCE! I was aghast. Please God, forgive them for they know not what they say! Science won’t save us, money won’t save us, the human government won’t save us – only the God Who created and owns us will save us. Trust in Him. He alone knows the future and brings it to pass.

I will quote from Isaiah now. It was written thousands of years before Jesus was even thought of by the populace. “Come, My people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the Lord’s wrath is past. For behold, the Lord is coming forth out of His place (Heaven) to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity” Isaiah 26:20-21a (Amplified). Yes, Jesus is coming back to earth to set up His Kingdom. The time draws closer and closer. Are you ready? Do you know Him? Have you asked Him into your life? The enemy knows his time is short so he wants to cause as much destruction as possible. If he can do this much damage, think what God can do – much more, much more. Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus!

Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div., Retired United Church of Christ pastor