My God is all around me, in the sunshine, in the air, in the humming bees and whispering leaves and murmuring water. I feel him everywhere, and in me, too!”
–Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)
“God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth.”
–Isaiah 42:5 (NLT)
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This stuff, yes, stuff, that has been happening in New Orleans, now Charlottesville and other place with the tearing down of Confederate statues is serious. First, when a country tries to forget or change its history there is danger. Revisionism is always dangerous, but now it is taking a more sinister form and involved is now turbulence, destruction, and even death.
If leaders of the Confederacy are targeted, then soon it will be the Founders who owned slaves. People just cannot look at history with 21st-century eyes. There were many more lynchings that took place after the Civil War than ever did during slavery. Instead of tearing down these statues, they should be looked at as a memorial. A memorial to a country that fought a terrible war over slavery (and there were other issues) and survived.
Another fact to consider–in reality most of what is happening is not about slavery at all or racism. It is about an excuse for violence. Some of the football players who refuse to stand for the National Anthem–shame. They should be the ones who are standing tall. Their fathers and grandfathers paid the price and what do they do? They whine. Hmmm, how many millions do they make? What are they doing with it; a token few thousand dollars here and there? Also, take a good look at the protestors. Look at their age group. Hmmm, what price have they paid and yet they are the spoiled brats? It does bring to mind the draft dodgers and protestors of the 60s and 70s.
I would suggest that instead of destruction of property, and the deconstruction of history that they do something positive. Get a job, for one, then they wouldn’t have the time to destroy. Say, it might do them good to read “Up From Slavery” about Booker T. Washington, or “Black Eagle” about Gen. Chappie James. Oh, and do not neglect to read the Book of Philemon.
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“In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?”
–Psalm 56:4 (NASB)
One of the reasons man has trouble praising God is that man wants to be autonomous. He wants others to praise him, and therefore, he does not want to lift praise to someone better and more praiseworthy than himself. When man begins to receive praise and compliments, there is a danger that he will begin to believe what is being said about him and starts to think that God sure is fortunate to have him on His side.
Praise is the mark of the Christian. Truly, one way or another we do show that “mark.” Our lives are always showing something about what we think about praise. “In everything you do, you either ignore, curse, or praise God.” (Stephen Brown)
When we begin to praise the world begins to look different. Praise helps the attitude; a changed attitude helps the person get through the day, or struggle, or circumstance better and easier. “Praise is a matter of attitude, and an attitude of praise changes the way, the world looks to the believer.” (Brown)
Praise does away with the autonomy of man. When man praises God, he finds his proper role and recognizes where he stands in the overall picture. “Praise is an affirmation of a basic truth, the truth that God is in charge.” (Brown) When we truly recognize the value of praise and its place in our lives then we can deal with any circumstance.
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Everywhere I go, there are signs of God. He is not the sunshine or the bees or the leaves but He is the Creator of all. What does it mean to feel God? We have to be careful with that word, but I know, I know that He is with me throughout this troubled old world, and I know that He lives within me.