Proverbs 14:19
Sometimes
it can be difficult to keep your head up when it seems as if evil is getting and
upper hand. I know many people who look at what is happening in this country
and they fall into angry despair. They see their values being trampled,
seemingly with no consequences. Underemployment at near record levels, 80% of
jobs created are part-time, and skyrocketing debt, and leaders who just can’t
seem to lead us out of this mess. It can be hard to have hope!
The
reason so many feel this way is because their hope has gotten misplaced. We are
not supposed to hope in our government to solve our problems. The government
has a limited role, but was never meant to be the object of our hope.
Governments tend to make more problems than they solve.
One
day, our text tells us, there will be an acknowledgment by those who don’t
follow the LORD that following the LORD was the right course of action. In the
ancient world the way this happened was for the losing side to bow down in the
presence of the winning side. One day the disobedient will acknowledge their
disobedience.
I
don’t expect this to happen in the present political climate. Each side has become
more entrenched in their own positions. Each side sees the problem and
therefore the solution in diametrically opposing ways.
The
second half of our text gives us a hint of a solution. It states that the
wicked will bow down at the gates of the righteous. This act had the
connotation that they were not only willing to acknowledge that they were
wrong, but also, they now depended on the righteous for mercy in their time of
need. When people gather at a gate it had two common meanings. The first was
for justice, because that is where court was held. The second was to beg for daily
provisions. The wicked will perhaps come to a point when they will do both.
There
are wicked, those who don’t follow the LORD, on both sides of our political
landscape. One side does not have a corner on righteousness or unrighteousness.
We can’t expect our culture to be somewhere we ourselves have not traveled and
remained. We can’t expect our government to be upright when we as citizens are
not people of integrity. We lie, cheat and steal, and our government does the
same thing.
Someday
righteousness will shine like the dawn. But until then we are responsible for
our actions, for our conduct. We need to humble ourselves before the LORD and
seek Him for our daily sustenance.