Asking the Hard Questions

 

 

After I have fasted

And after I have prayed,

After the solemn assembly

And my nerves are frayed,

After the prayer vigil

And after the prayer walk,

What do I do when nothing changes

And it seems just talk?

 

When people laugh

And they poke scorn at us,

When they mock at our God

And discredit the Lord Jesus,

When like in Elijah’s time

He mocked Baal’s prophets,

What do we do when this seems reversed

As a regular habit?

 

When God seems distant

And untraceable,

And there’s no apparent help

In time of great trouble,

And we say how great God is

But nothing ever happens,

Tell me what ought to be our response

When the unthinkable threatens?

 

 

When we pray for country

And it gets mockingly worse

And it appears that all we have done

Is to exacerbate its curse

Thus, a “where is your God”

Is the question scorners ask,

Please give me a watertight answer

Re this formidable task.

 

When I quote Scripture

About all God has done,

But yet in the recent past battles

Satan seemed to have won,

When the church seems clueless

Regarding what can be done,

Why should I not in frustration give up

And away from it run?

 

When Governments pretend

To respect the church

And call for its spiritual reflection

When the Nation hurts,

And when the church responds

Just as the Nation dictates,

Tell me this then, who is really in charge

Of the church’s fate? 

 

 

Is it not the Nation

That is calling the shots

To determine the church’s role

As well as its available slots?

When did Governments become

Regulators of the church?

How I wish the church would wake up

For this really hurts.

 

What exalts a Nation?

Is it still not righteousness?

Do we not see that our countries

Are one sordid mess?

Which churches will trumpet the call

For the country to repent

Rather than asserting their independence

And their fund-raising intent?

 

For our nation is divided

And so are our churches

And both have been majoring

In cosmetic excesses

Pretending to genuinely care

About God and the people

But yet guns, drugs and their importers

Make our lives miserable.

 

Rather than clean the mess

We pray for protection,

Rather than expose evil doers

We want God’s intervention

But He must operate on our terms

While we ignore His Word

Expecting Him to leave man unchanged

But fix the world.

 

 

Back in the Bible times

Whenever Israel strayed

They were instructed to repent

However hard they prayed,

So, however hard we pray

And however long we lament,

Will we bring God into our political affairs

And first up, genuinely repent?

 

Stewart Russell © July 28, 2024