Isaiah 48:11 “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.”

It is currently politically incorrect to ascribe anything to the direct action of God. Even natural disasters are now chalked up to “man-made climate disruption.” If this passage is any indication, that’s asking for more! Science has indeed discovered the mechanisms by which God does a lot of things, but in the process a lot of people have thrown God out of the equation altogether. What foolishness! When in recent years anyone even hinted that Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Sandy, not to mention the 9/11 terrorist attack, had been allowed by God to bring the US to repentance, they were immediately attacked and derided. In fact, however, even the current administration, that is literally hell-bent on destroying America as she once was, was allowed because that’s what the actions and attitudes of so many Americans have asked for. Repentance is the only real solution. America is facing a crossroad, but it is neither political nor economic, it is spiritual. As it is today, America is Babylon in the Revelation to John, destroyed in a day because she polluted the earth with her whoredoms. That word doesn’t logically take plural form, but the US has played the whore in multiple ways, so much that even rules of grammar don’t seem to apply. We see physical pollution of air and water and understand that it’s a bad thing, but we fail to understand, or even recognize, spiritual pollution. We urgently need to remember the words of Paul: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7)

This is a soapbox I could stand on for a long time! However, I’ve got to remember that I’ve been complicit in the slide, swallowing “entertainment” inspired by hell. I’ve got to remember, and do, what Paul said so memorably in Romans 12:2. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The 1st Century wasn’t any more righteous as a whole than the 21st, but the believers knew who they were, and they literally chose to die rather than conform to their world. I’ve got to remember to keep Christ first in every aspect of my life, “leisure” as well as work, family, and everything else, and I’ve got to exhort others to do likewise. It’s no longer politically correct to admonish others, even your own children, but the Bible makes it clear that’s an important part of living as a child of God. (Colossians 3:16) I’m not to be “holier-than-thou,” but I am to be holy, and I’m to exhort and encourage others to do likewise.

Father, You know the things I’ve done that the devil tries to use to keep me from drawing others to holiness. Help me remember that when they are confessed and repented of, they are truly forgiven and are blotted out of my record. (Psalm 51:1, 9) May I live as Your child, Your agent all the time, and not just occasionally, so that Your will may be done in and through me for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!