© 2021 Don Pinson | [Download]
(Link not working? Right-click and select “Save As”.)
Do you sense the growing desperation right now? With the cowardice that grips most of our government servants, rendering them powerless to deal with the rising oil prices and the out-of-control spending of government itself, there is great cause for alarm. I’ve never known a time when there seemed to be such little resolve among those who were supposed to be leaders to correct such obvious problems. Our leaders seemed paralyzed by ignorance, or worse—no moral courage!
While there is plenty around us to discourage us, let us not forget that the God of heaven still rules. It has always been at the darkest moments in history that He has shown up with His mighty power. The Psalmist recognized just such a time and cried out, “It is time for You to act, O Lord, for they have made void Your law.” (Psalms 119:126). Indeed, the current crisis should not be allowed to bring us to despair, but rather to bring us to our knees so we would cry to our God to deliver us! Our children are worth fighting for. Our God-given liberty is worth personal sacrifice!
In December of 1776, as George Washington’s ‘rag tag’ army moved into Valley Forge Pennsylvania to spend the winter there, they were at their lowest point. Many of them did not even have shoes. Washington wrote that you could follow their bloody tracks through the snow. Of the 6,000 men in his army, 2,000 of them would die that winter. It looked as if freedom was lost.
But in the midst of all this blackened discouragement, a young man wrote an article, which so stirred Washington, he had it read to all his troops. It seemed to say what was deepest in their hearts, deeper than the discouragement dumped on them by satan’s hordes. It was what lived in their spirit, deposited there with the indwelling presence of God Himself. Paine entitled his article, The American Crisis. In it he stated:
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country…
“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us; that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly…Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”
Then Paine exhorted: “‘Show your faith by your works,’ that God may bless you…I thank God, that I fear not.”
(Paine, Thomas. December 23, 1776. The American Crisis. “Common Sense” (Reston, VA: Intercessors for America, July/August 1993), Vol. 20, No. 7/8, p. 1.)
Stirring words like these helped the Continental Army stay focused during the most difficult time of their battle for freedom. But it was the prayers of their families, for whose freedom they were bleeding, along with the prayers of Washington himself, which finally delivered them. Their God showed up in miracles that winter; not only delivering them from the ravages of a cruel winter, but delivering them into a solid fighting force that would eventually defeat the renowned British army.
We must seek the face of Jesus Christ in this present ‘American Crisis’. The liberty of our children is worth fighting for! We must be willing, as our forefathers were, to lay down our lives for the next generation. Let’s cry to God, asking him to act, since so many voices in our media and government have “made void” His Word!
Thomas Paine also left us some other words in his article, The American Crisis: They deserve our consideration. He stated:
“…Where, say some, is the king of America? I’ll tell you, friend, He reigns above!”
(Ibid., p. 1)
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.