A Time to Mourn? A Time to Mourn? A Time to Mourn?

A visitor wrote and poured out her heart in anguish over the state of our country and the world. Seeing the wide-spread corruption, destruction, evil and the many sins of a people she was moved to tears. She felt alone—isolated in her tears. She wondered where the tears and the voices of an obviously suffering nation were. Her transformative unburdening in her writing led to asking me to write in hopes of answering her many unanswered questions. Without doubt, she very ably speaks for many of us.

Indeed, we are living in a time like no other. It is profound and impacts every living creature on the planet. No one has escaped it. It is more than just a virus that has affected many. Using the cover of that single exaggerated threat, what we have seen imposed on the world by those who stand to gain is so diabolical that it is hard to express one's reaction to it without emotions boiling to the surface. Well into its second year, emotions continue to run deep no matter what one's view of the current events are and the radical changes in our lives forced upon us, not the least of which for most of us a President for our time was driven from office.

Before attempting to respond to this visitor's emotional pleas with some hopeful words capable and worthy of speaking to such a burden, it is most important to let her express those questions to you, in her own words:

Words spoken by her in earnest interrupted her questions thus revealing her reasons for asking:

"We all prayed and humbled ourselves before our holy God and asked Him for four more years for our country in the fight to save our freedoms and liberties. I weep for the babies in the womb that have been murdered and the next President elect promises more murders of the innocent. We have a nation that has turned its back on God. We call evil good and good evil. Law enforcement is evil. Rioting and looting is good. Burning businesses is good. But many houses of worship are still locked down. Everything is turned upside down."

You can hear her raw emotions as she asked her final and perhaps her two most important questions:

Pleading, she concludes:

"We need to begin to grieve this stolen election!"

No question she knows there are countless thousands, if not millions, like her who are out there. After all, a record 80 plus million voted for President Trump. She is just asking why is it—like her expression of tears—those voices are not heard either. When God places His love in our hearts it is natural that our hearts will be as His—lovers of goodness and haters of evil. Clearly, this nature of God runs deep in her spiritual life. It is very natural, then, to ask, as reflected in her questions: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? (Jeremiah 12:1)

I venture to say most of us are very private people. As such, we do not rush to express our emotions in public. We keep them in check, revealing them only to those within our circles of relationships where we do not feel threatened. Consequently, when we do it is because, typically, something of magnitude has overcome our reservations. Such is her experience. Such is her heart, and, I would guess, countless others who share in her sentiment. It is hard to see those things we love being forcefully taken from our lives without some form of expression.

I do not think for a minute I have all the answers she is looking for. There are many ways I could respond but I ask myself if they would be sufficient or even on target. Since it has always been my practice to see what the Bible has to say about any one given thing let's consider this about our burdens—our tears. His Word is much more trustworthy to know the direct avenues to the heart.

I am reminded of the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, like Paul (Romans 9 & 11), who wept over the sins of his people which were the root cause of their impending judgment. As stated of our writer, Jeremiah knew the nature of God and could see the world as God saw it. He knew that God, being Holy, would not tolerate unholiness much longer. He knew that although God is infinite, His patience for repentance is finite. There is always a tipping point in His tolerance. After many intercessions for his people, God finally told Jeremiah to pray no more for them. In fact, if he did, He would no longer hear him (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11). When one reaches this place in their relationship with God, there is nothing left to ask but mercy.

Many mistake His patience with their sin as His lack of interest in it—if they acknowledge His existence at all. One only has to look at what He says in His Word to drive a stake in the heart of that thinking: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7). Peter does tell us that He is longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish but all turn and repent. (II Peter 3:9) However, His longsuffering is not forever suffering. Ask the Ancients. Call forth Sodom and let them speak to their experiences. No doubt you will detect a strong smell of Sulphur.

Perhaps pertinent to our time, as seen in Biblical history, God warns a nation who installs leaders, especially corrupt ones, against His will: They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not...For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind...(Hosea 8:4a,7a). It would be instructive to read at least this chapter from the prophet Hosea who was called to warn Israel before she would fall and go into captivity. The parallels between Israel in the period right before their judgment and our time is uncanny, and alarming.

To repeat, this should be a warning to those who would install a national leader who was selected through fraud and at odds with God's choosing. It also should put to rest the notion that ALL national leaders are CHOSEN by God. Seriously? Shallow Biblical knowledge and shallow thinking. As if God sanctioned some of our most recent anti-American Presidents. Can't tell you how many Christians I heard believed they were chosen by God. Sad. But that's what we are commonly taught, even from many pulpits. As if God would associate Himself with evil-doers. Blasphemous. Put away such foolish notions.

Probably, the wisest man acknowledged even today declared after acquainting himself with every interest known to man: Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11). As he tells us, he knew this from his own experiences. This partly explains the depth and breadth of unchecked corruption and evil in our time. God vacates Himself when men choose evil rather than Him. See Romans 1. It is nothing new. The same wise man discovered in his search for the answers to his many questions admitted that there is nothing new under the sun. This is certainly true with the evil nature of man's heart. Jeremiah tells us that. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Every generation is faced with its own challenges and battles—is plagued by its own demons. It is a given that the war Satan began while man walked with God in the Garden in the cool of the evening rages on today outside in a fallen world. The battle is not with weapons of war, although these certainly are tools in Satan's quiver, it is as Paul suggests: ...we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12).

This is the key to understanding when facing any challenge in life. It is no less with today's challenges. When you have come to the end of your conceivable ways, the end of your wits, just remember: ...my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

So, we can begin to see, in part at least, some answers to the questions asked that are illustrative by all who have had their hearts transformed by God regardless of the time in which they live. Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous perish?, has been the age-old question. Why do our importunate prayers bathed in our tears seem to go unheard or unanswered?, Martha must surely have felt abandoned and hopeless when Jesus did not come to the side of her sick brother when summoned. Why must the most innocent and vulnerable suffer without mercy?, when we look upon Jesus as He suffered on the Cross. Why does there never seem to be justice when justice is required—when the guilty go free and unpunished?

We see in God's Word that man's heart is wicked above all things. It is beyond cure. Not one of us can understand it. Because such unimaginable evil entered the world through Satan and he is the prince of this world, he never ceases in his war against God and his crowning glory. In the absence of Jesus, man is the object of his fury (Proverbs 28:15; I Peter 5:8). Man, in his fallen nature, is ill-equipped for battle against such a mighty foe. Few know how to engage him and among those few, even fewer are willing to rise and face him.

There is a classic Biblical example that best illustrates this. On one occasion Israel's army was arrayed against the Philistine army and a single Goliath and his insufferable mocking of their God for forty days that is until a little shepherd boy came along. Shocked that not one of Israel's king's mighty army had gone out to rebuke this blasphemer, David, still a teenager, marched to the head of Israel's army. Armed only with his trusty sling and a few stones gathered from a brook, he went up to meet the vile mocker of his God, the one who threatened the future of his nation.

In this well-known Bible story we see how such a formidable foe is to be challenged—through a life devoted to God, experienced in His ways and totally dependent upon His wisdom and strength and not his own. Drawing from his many victorious experiences in protecting his father's flock, little David raised his arm, ably swung the sling and loosed the single stone within it. As he expected and without thought of failure, it found its mark exactly where he intended and dropped the giant, dead before he hit the ground.

It could be said the reason there is so much unchecked evil in the world isn't because of unanswered prayer as illustrated in the tears of our writer representing a host of others who pray unceasingly. It isn't because of the lack of our suffering or sacrifice. The blood of millions of our dead infants cry unceasingly before God. Nor is it because of the lack of seriousness of the moment. Certainly, someone could make the case that in the absence of good, evil flourishes. And the many reasons for this could be argued as well.

I don't think anyone would argue that the church no longer fulfills the vital role in our communities as it once did. That has always been the main fount from which the health of the community depended on. But with its retreat from that role over the past few decades that is precisely where we have come. Evil now fills our land. Now that we're here, it is plain to see that the survival of our weakened nation will be determined in the course of the next very tense few months. The enemy does not plan to allow another election for fear that they can no longer do their evil deeds in the darkness to assure they remain in power. Since all the variables seem to exist for God to answer our fervent prayers and He has not, I ask this question: Have we ever thought we may simply be praying for the wrong thing?

Granted, we have been struck by what many are calling a lethal blow in America's ongoing struggle for liberty and freedom for all its people. These same quick to judgment are busying themselves fitting her for burial, wrapping her in the most unseemly trappings she would have instantly thrown off years ago—socialism, Marxism, Communism and all the other isms man has conjured up in his quest to rule. But we are not dead yet.

Whether we live or die now remains with us for a short season. Our enemy senses this and is quickly arraying itself in a manner that will soon, very soon, come at us again for the coup de grace. But we must remember, our enemy is Satan. He is not all powerful. He is not undefeatable. And it is he we must target. As with David, never mind the army arrayed behind him and its shell of a general who leads it. Keep the eye on the prize. Defeat Satan and you will have defeated his army. The shock wave from the severed head of goliath once again striking the ground will bring his minions from the darkness to melt in the light.

In that historic moment of little David's life Israel's enemy was not the whole of the Philistine army. David was focused on one giant figure of the enemy's choosing, a goliath. Just as Goliath, and if you will, Satan, stood at the head of an enemy's army some three thousand plus years ago, Satan comes once again to stand at the head of yet another, one of our time. He is formidable, already seizing the reins of our government, our institutions, our churches and even the hearts and minds of many. We must not be despondent. We must learn the lesson of a retreating Saul juxtaposed with the heart and spirit of a fearless Godly little shepherd boy who rose to the occasion.

So, with that said, and in answer to the concerns and questions of all those who are still reeling in an obvious defeat, be of good cheer! I say this with full confidence. This is why. But before I do, let me say that many will likely be surprised at my answer, just as I was when God spoke to my heart as I pled with Him for some understanding, some wisdom that might rise to the level of the severity of the request—to give some sense to one's searching for understanding.

What I'm about to say is not meant to brush aside so many serious questions, especially the one regarding why after such a blow there isn't an outpouring of grief or national mourning. Nor is it meant to sound cold, lacking in compassion. So I will say it as I received it.

While the enemy is regathering, now is not the time for mourning. Now is not the time for licking our wounds. Now is not the time to retreat to Emmaus. Now is not the time for tears. God would not have us surrender so easily and abandon the skirmish.

We cannot. We must not. It is the time for that righteous anger I spoke of earlier. We must not shed our armor while the engagement is still hot, while the enemy remains on the battlefield.

The answer to all those questions cannot possibly come through what few words I might say. No. Their answer is only capable of coming from the refreshing waters which flow to the battlefield from beneath the Throne of God. My place is merely to instruct you to drink. Allow its waters to touch your lips and see if you will not be refreshed and empowered as Isaiah when his lips were touched by the coals brought by a seraphim from the altar of God.

Next, I would say, listen to the voices from those lost in battle. Would they not be saying?, Weep not for me just yet. Listen to the cry of that great cloud of witnesses: Arise and drink from His refreshing waters, I hear them saying. Reengage. For our sakes, for country's sake, for God's sake, choose the right weapon and let God show His mighty strength in your time, in your day! Brush back the tears. Put aside your fears and in the spirit of America's first Naval hero, John Paul Jones, when asked by the enemy commander of the Serapis, seeing the accidently fallen flag aboard Jones' ship, if he was ready to surrender, Jones responded with those immortal words: I have not yet begun to fight!

Here I would say: Fight on! Answer the call of our fallen flag and fight on! And when the day is done, the victory won, then and only then will there be a time to mourn, a time for tears, but also a time to celebrate the great victory God gave.

In David's time, the battle was won by the defeat of one figure by one brave individual who came forward. However, I would now remind you of another battle that our time might best be likened to—the judgment of Jericho.

As the Hebrew race crossed Jordan to enter their promised land after being rescued from slavery in Egypt, set free to live under the kingship of God, their first encounter with the enemy in that land was with the walled fortress of Jericho. There is no need for retelling the story that, I dare say, even many unbelievers have heard. I just call to your remembrance of how that battle contrasted with David's. You will find it in Joshua's command to the entire people, not just the fighting men or one lone savior. Seven days they marched and on the seventh, God fought for His people. His was the victory. To Him was and has been through the ages all the glory given.

The story of David reminds us that with God even the mightiest of foe can be felled by just one who stands by faith. The story of Jericho reminds us that when His people unite and stand together, with God as their commander, no fortress of the enemy can prevent their victory in battle.

Satan is formidable and it now may appear that he legitimately sits on the throne of America. But he is only a pretender. He is a thief and a liar. Never surrender. Never admit defeat. Let's not give quarter to our enemy while we mourn just yet.

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