Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be
discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Such words of encouragement to Joshua as he took on the mantle
of leadership from Moses.
This morning, the Lord impressed on my mind an image of
myself behind bars. Behind me was the eye of God.
I, like many others, have been struggling with the situation
in my home country. I’ve been surprised at the depth of my grief, the frequency
of my tears, the shock of my outrage. I’ve never experienced such a maelstrom
of emotions – helpless anger, shame, incredulity, confusion, fear, anxiety.
Lord, bring your peace into that cauldron of toxicity. Calm the storm, I pray.
I sense that the Lord is showing me that, due to many
factors, I’ve lived all my life assuming the truth of an idolised version of
the US which put it pretty close to the Kingdom of God. Raised by very
patriotic US Marines, who were great parents who I loved dearly, it’s hard to
watch the façade drop away from so many facets of a nation which we believed
always wore the ‘white hat’. It’s shocking to watch their imagined reality,
which I inherited, die, as the administration embraces greed, selfishness, injustice,
ignorance and cruelty: ugliness of every kind.
As hard as I’m finding this, Lord, I offer to you the hope
that the nation’s motto, ‘In God we trust’, might finally become true as I – as
we – learn that it is only in you that our trust is secure.
May I pray with greater insight, fervor and longing: ‘Thy
Kingdom come, thy will be done.’
Jesus came to set the captives free – even those captivated
by a mistaken dream. Humbly, I come to you, Jesus. Set me free today, I pray.
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