Wisdom the Lord’s or Ours?

In considering all the problems we face in to-day’s world order, I was thinking of politics, work, and the law. Of course, we are aware of the departure of all things that could be classed as Christian. We must remember that God’s great book, the Bible, is based on certain truths, which are based on God’s laws written for eternity. Our thinking is much shorter. An example would be on how we can fail to stop the environmental changes that are threatening our planet and our very lives. To this date we have shown very little capacity to make the necessary far-reaching changes in our attitudes to the operation of the economy and new ways of achieving all the power we will need.

In the foundation of the Kingdom of God, it was a THEOCRACY with God given laws and judges to administer those laws. In fact, Moses father-in -law suggested to relieve himself by appointing rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Then, only the “big” items would come forward for Moses’ attention. We long ago rejected theocracy by separating church from state and set about structuring our own laws. What are some examples? We set up prisons when the Lord’s law had none. We put debtors in prison without a means to pay their debt. (The Lord’s law required forgiveness of debt on the Jubilee years) We tax property whereas God only taxed profits from productive work. We have set up a sexual regime which fundamentally violates all of God’s rules regarding marriage and sexual matters. Where God requires capital punishment, we have stopped executing prisoners trying to rehabilitate them after “life” in prison. Of course there are many more but these are some examples.

How was it set in Moses’ time? Exodus 19: 7 & 8, “And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all that the Lord had commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.” Our fathers who contained us in their genes made the oath to which we are committed. We have failed politically.

I personally think the trouble in the work force came with the collapse of Enron. Not only were the chief officers of the company guilty of fraud but so was the auditing firm! Then, we had the great collapse of the banks in 2008, where the government bailed out the banks only to find that the bailout funds were applied to workers bonuses! Currently in Canada we have four senators under review for over charging the tax payers for unauthorized or unreal expenses. Also, we are facing the Montreal inquiry on the fraudulent payments associated with the construction contracts issued over years! It seems that we are afflicted with the quest for power and money. We no longer enjoy basic ethics in business and we are constantly on the defensive.

Deuteronomy: 8: 17 & 18, “And thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. For thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”

These days, we have violated the Bible’s direction on good and evil. And what was Isaiah’s advice on good and evil? Isaiah 5: 20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” All improper sex is good and everyone speaking against it is wrong! Death means sleeping in the grave but we have made it into a trip to heaven. We have developed a whole manner of speaking to disguise the true words under a skin of political ‘correctness’. It is dangerous to-day to call anything evil. Why? Deuteronomy 12: 8 & 9, “Ye shall not do all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord thy God giveth you.” Yes, do whatsoever you wish as long as you do not hurt another. Does that include hurting God, our Creator?

Amos had suggestions for good and evil. They are found in Amos 5:13–15, “Therefore, the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, that ye may live; and so the Lord, the God of Hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate; it may be that the Lord God of Hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”

So, how do we face this evil time? Paul has some suggestions in chapter 8 of Romans, verses 38 & 39, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And finally Paul tells us in 12: 21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Amen!