Getting Through a Day… with GOD

Getting Through a Day… with GOD

‘Getting through a day’ seems to have more relevance these days than ever before. Maybe it is just me, but getting through a day seems to be a more difficult proposition today than it was in years past… ah, am I longing for the good old days? As I advance in my years, I think that is a fair statement. Nostalgia is everywhere now; a longing for a return to a sense of solidity and stability in our lives, an aching to know that everything is as it should be, a desire to know that things can always be put right. We seem to have lost our way, not only as individuals, but (and very much more alarmingly so) as a collective society. What distresses me most of all is a systemic loss of hope. Life to many people is nothing more than grinding out a series of days that don’t seem to have a purpose; days that lack smiles, laughter, love and truly deep-seated joy and appreciation of everyone and everything from God the Father on down.

The secular world has its own wisdom on getting through a day; here is a quotation that is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

I don’t say that Emerson’s words are without merit, but do you notice that there is no mention of God at all? This is the problem that I see with the world in its present state: as a matter of usual custom, it gives no deference to God; His Name is hardly even deferred to, never mind an ever-present attitude of the heart that declares that God is the be all and end all, the Alpha and the Omega, the Uncreated Creator, Almighty God, Righteous Judge, the Ancient of Days, the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. Our secular society has all but removed God, and that by conscious choice, from almost every aspect of life with the exception of the churches… and you may rest entirely assured that it will not be a long time before the evil one, who is locked in deadly, no-holds-barred enmity with God, will seek to remove God from the churches as well.

Secular society will surely have its own opinion, but I believe that what we as beings created in the image of God need to be doing is this: enthralling ourselves with God. Does this sound like a bad thing? To those in secular society, I am sure it sounds exactly like a bad thing; they will summarily dismiss with a careless callousness anyone who would dare submit themselves to God and declare that they love Him. They would be mocked thus… “How can you love someone that you’ve never seen or known?” What secular society does not know, and moreover will not admit even if it did know, is this:

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

I am tired of the atttitude that secular society ‘has it all figured out’, and that ‘we can all take care of each other’. Anyone who is more than barely conscious can take a look around themselves and determine quite easily how good a job that secular society has done in eliminating injustice, ensuring enduring freedom, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, stopping aggression and wars, and caring for the helpless, homeless, mentally ill, and sick amongst us… not to mention every other issue that we as humanity face. If you cannot bring yourself to see what a mess things are, then you are not only hard of heart, but you are intellectually dishonest as well. To those who would snort and say “Well, so what… can your God do any better?”, I would say that it would not be possible for Him to do worse.

So why is it that secular society has failed so miserably? Simply this:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

So why is it that God has not done any better? Because we in our disgraceful arrogance and pridefulness refuse to obey Him and to allow Him to do any better:

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Secular society is therefore condemned:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:18-23)

The case has been made. WE ARE THE PROBLEM.   

Oh, yes… Emerson’s quotation. Here is how I rewrite it:

Complete each day with exultant thankfulness that God has carried you through it by His love for you. You have done not your will, but His will. Give God your imperfection. Be renewed by His grace, love, mercy and forgiveness. God will be with you. Dawn will break. Start with hope, labor with joy, finish with peace.

Oh, Dearest LORD, be with us. Despite our sin and our unworthiness, you loved us enough to have given Your Only Son Jesus Christ for our sake, that we who deserve condemnation and eternal death would instead be given mercy and eternal life, changed forever in our hearts for the glory of Your Name. Amen.