Daily Devotional – May 5, 2020

Daily Life Under the Virus Crisis

This staying at home stuff, driving in the suburbs, you know, normally that is a headache. It's just a pain to drive in those Chicago suburbs, but driving in those suburbs yesterday was actually, it's a piece of cake.

Even at 4 .30 in the afternoon, 4 .30 in the afternoon, there was hardly any traffic. It was really no worse than driving from like downtown Sterling out to Walmart at, you know, like five o 'clock in the afternoon.

And at O 'Hare itself, got there at O 'Hare, and you know, if you haven't been there since this lockdown and so forth, it's really almost kind of eerie because there's, it's like there's nobody there.

You know, you pull up to the arrivals section and there's just, you know, a couple other cars up against the curb. And normally at 3 .30 in the afternoon, you're fighting to get into the curb and get a place to stop so you can pick up your party that's arriving.

But not yesterday, man, just drove right in there, drove right up to the curb, party's there ready to go, got in the car and away we went. I think there were maybe two other cars there and maybe a couple of shuttle buses as well.

Well, it was nice for me doing the pickup, but you know, I can sure understand how the airlines and all the related businesses and employees, they have to be hurting in all of this. It's gotta be pretty devastating.

Generosity and Community Spirit During the Crisis

Well, another nice thing that's kind of come about in this crisis is the spirit of generosity that you see in a whole bunch of different situations. You know, much as I've joked about the mask recommendation, it's good to see people, you know, volunteering to make these things and to provide the materials and make them for other people.

That's a wonderful spirit of generosity on that part. And of course, there's no shortage of appeals for people who have a generous heart either. This didn't happen to me, but one of my neighbors said someone came around the other day asking for a small donation to help with the swimming pool.

See the photos that Sarah posted on the church Facebook page the other day, pictures of her children, just some adorable pictures during the Sunday morning service. So if you didn't see those, you need to check them out.

Go to the Facebook, the Faith Baptist Facebook page and look up those pictures. Well, yesterday I shared, I think, I guess, a rather bleak commentary on the increasing division in our nation. And I, you know, tried to lay a groundwork for its root cause.

Sin as the Root of National Division

It was focusing on Isaiah chapter 59. And the prophet Isaiah was dealing with a terrible crisis in ancient Israel. And he pointed out that the problem was not with God. It wasn't that God couldn't hear as the people cried, and it wasn't that he couldn't do anything about the crisis.

Not at all. That wasn't the problem at all. The problem was their sin, the sin of the land. It was the sin that was separating them from God. So I drew some parallels, and I think you could recognize those parallels between the situation 2 ,700 years ago and that of today.

Some of those sins are ours, at least as a nation. And those sins then led to some very unpleasant consequences that everyday people had to deal with. They had to live with them. You can live, you can read the entire list of those consequences in Isaiah 59 and verses nine to 15.

I just wanna share with you a couple of those things. Listen, listen to these. He says, we grope for the wall like the blind. We stumble at noon as in the twilight. The idea being it's just difficult to find direction and to know where to go and what to be doing.

And he says, among those in full vigor, we are like dead men. We just don't have strength to deal with everyday life and what we need to do. We all growl like bears. We moan and moan like doves. Now, the consequence in this list that struck me most that I think most parallels our current plight is what the prophet says in verse 14.

Listen to this. He says, justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away. And now, especially this, for truth has stumbled in the public squares and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking.

Truth has stumbled. Truth is lacking. So, Demick, unless you listen only to the six o 'clock news or the 10 o 'clock news at night, you're probably as frustrated as I am about the myriad of conflicting details all claiming to be the truth.

And they obviously cannot be. How about in the election, the whole election process here that's going on and the Democratic candidate. Churches, just go ahead, open up, and go ahead and have services in spite of what your governor has said as far as executive orders, because that's not the law.

The Constitution is what you go by. So, should churches defy the governor's executive order and meet because it's our constitutional right, even though a federal judge, was it yesterday, ruled against the church in Lena that was trying to argue that?

Or does the crisis response take precedent? Well, which is the truth? And then again, thinking about the election, you got some on one side who are saying we should do mail-in ballots and have all our election done by mail.

Well, would a completely mail-in or online voting in the November election, would that be safe? Or would it be fraught with fraud? And on and on and on we can go. And I don't think I need to belabor the point.

I think you know by your own experience, living in our culture, living in this world in which we do, that one of the biggest challenges is discerning what's really true. Truth has stumbled. Truth is lacking and woefully so.

The Lord Sees Injustice and Will Act

Yet this chapter ends by holding out hope. And it does so strangely enough by saying that regarding this sorry state of affairs, listen to what it says, the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice and that there was no one fit to intercede or to do anything about it.

The Lord saw it and it displeased him. So then based on what the Lord sees and what displeases him, what does he do for his people? The passage goes on to say, then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.

And then the passage continues by declaring that according to their deeds, the Lord will repay wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies. In other words, what's the Lord gonna do for his people?

He's gonna bring them salvation and his righteousness is going to uphold his people. And the Lord is going to repay those whose deeds are corrupt, those who are violating his law and those who are unjust and so forth.

The Lord is going to repay his, the Lord's enemies. And when all is said and done, this passage says, they shall fear the name of the Lord from the West and his glory from the rising of the sun, for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives.

In other words, when all is said and done, there will be global glory to our God. And then finally this, and a redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord.

This is what the Lord has promised for his people 2 ,700 years ago. So listen, in all of our struggle and our frustration with the sin, the corruption, the injustice, the lies, the distortion, and all the consequences that, and the hardship and grief and heartache that are brought on by these things.

Listen, the Lord sees it all. It displeases him far more than it displeases you and me. And he will deal with the sin. He will redeem the repentant. He will deliver his people. So friend, child of God, don't lose heart.

Keep your wits about you amid all of this confusion. Your God sees it all. He sees it all. Let's pray to him who sees. Our father in our see the lies for what they are. You see the truth for what it is.

And we can be confident in the end, you will redeem your people and you will deal with your adversaries. Give us confidence in that hope, we pray. In Jesus name we ask it, amen. All right, well, have a good rest of your Tuesday and I hope it's going well and we'll finish well.

Carry on, God bless.