Can It Get Any Worse?

From the “Chairman’s Article”,
Onesimus Ministries, Inc., Oxford, PA
By Vernon Myers

Do you think the political and financial situation we face can get much worse? The short answer is “surely so.” Every generation, I suspect, has thought “things cannot get much worse.” “The Lord's return must be imminent.” Every generation has faced difficult issues and events which have caused angst and concern. We certainly have reason for concern in our times. We have watched the turmoil in Egypt as people stood up in protest against the harsh control of their government. The Egyptian people have high hopes for more freedom and democracy. We pray what fills the vacuum is not a government equally bad or worse. We have seen the unrest spread throughout the Middle East with Libya seemingly “coming apart at the seams.”

We have our own national issues. In Wisconsin the state legislature is in turmoil over Governor Walker's proposal to do what he is constitutionally obligated to do operate under a balanced budget. We have seen the capitol filled with people in protest. It seems so wrong to have teachers “calling in sick” when they are not ill and shutting down the schools, crippling their children's education. What a bad example for teachers to teach their students. Reminds me of the problem the Apostle Paul alludes to in Philippians 2:4. In our selfish world each looks out for his own interest and not the interests of the broader community. In hard economic times, all need to make the sacrifice to meet the need. It is quite likely the budget battles will spread to other states since government has a habit of spending more than it takes in. There will be a “day of reckoning.” Overspending cannot continue “indefinitely”. Our indebtedness cannot be sustained.

We live in uncertain times. Such uncertainty turns our hearts to the Lord. I thought about Psalm 46 as an “anchor of the soul” to which we can hold. We need to “be still and know” that God is God.

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “ “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

[Note by Pastor Bill] It is only this certainty, found not in the things of God, but in God Himself, that life can find any foundation. Without it, life drifts, like a boat without mooring. One cannot stop the sea from moving. It will do what it will do, that is inescapable. But one can see to it that the vessel that one is secured safely to something that is not tossed about at the whim of the tide. God indeed is our fortress. He and his provision for us is the rock upon which we stand.

Unlike the sea and the rocks which border the sea however, the foundation cannot be gradually worn down by the erosion of the impact of the waves, day after day, upon the rocks! Christ has provided for us a secure and eternal foundation for us upon which to stand. It is one that will never change for it is one that rests upon His finished work and not one bit upon ours. Glory to God!