There are a lot of angry people today.  People mad about masks.  About injustice.  About the election.  About a myriad of topics and it seems to be getting worse.  We Christians can sense things are eroding around us, but how do we process the times so we can help others and bring glory to God?  Is our government corrupt, and if so, how do we navigate our lives under or around it?

1.  Remember Authority.  In Romans 13, Paul lays out God's plan.  His plan is for us to understand that He is in charge.  But how can that be?  With the world seemingly spiraling away, how can God still be in charge of it all?  Paul tells us to understand that the authority, our rulers, are appointed by Him.  They are there for God's purposes.

2.  Follow Authority.  Now comes perhaps one of the hardest biblical truths out there.  Paul tells us that we are to follow the ruling authorities.  We are to be good citizens.  Peter goes further into this idea in 1 Peter 2:11-17.  He says to be such good examples of a good citizen that even the pagans, those who don't believe, can find no fault in you.

3.  Opposition to Authority is Opposition to God: Unless the governing authorities are passing laws that demand you perform an act in violation to God's law, we are to adhere to the law of the land.  This doesn't mean that if you disagree with a portion of the law you can throw your adherence away.  We are meant to obey our authorities.  Why?  Because God has instituted them.  They are in that position, right now, for God's purposes.

Look at it this way...if you can't submit to human authority, how are you going to submit to God's?  You don't agree with all of the government's moves, but as a good citizen you are asked to follow the rule.  It is the same way with God.  There are things in scripture, God's word, that you may not agree with.  But you are asked, as a follower of Christ, to accept the truth and to follow it...even if you don't agree with it.  Human authority is a training ground for this eternal citizenship.

In our world we are seeing an escalation of rioting, dissidence and protests.  But as Christians we are to be those good stewards of the word, good examples to the rest of the world so that, as Peter says, we can bring them to understanding (1 Peter 2:12).

There's no doubt that it looks like the end of the world.  As I write this, we are in the grip of a fifth wave of COVID-19.  We have trouble in the middle east, we have a variety of domestic and imported issues that hobbles us mentally, physically and emotionally.  When we turn on the news we're hit with a laundry list of horrors that illustrates what a dark and fallen world we live in.

If you peruse Youtube, you can find dozens, if not hundreds of people touting the end of the world.  These people have premonitions.  They have seemingly airtight arguments about how it's all going down.  This time it's different.  It's like no other time in the history of the world.  Get ready for chaos like you've never seen. 

As Christians, we are supposed to watch for the signals that trigger end times.  But we also must be the cool and calm face of reason.  As the world bucks and kicks ad writhes toward fear, we're to be the people who can shine a light into the chaos.

Three verses will give you insight into how the world operates and how we are to operate in it.  
1.  Ecclesiastes 1:1-11.  In this passage King Solomon shows us that the world operates in a cyclical fashion.  Nothing is new in this world.  We tend to recycle, over time, the same issues and concerns.  In other words, these crises, which are new to us, are nothing new in the scheme of human existence.

2.  Matthew 24:6.  Here, Christ reminds us that life is a constant flux of trials.  There will be wars, calamity, hardships, but they alone don't signal an end to existence.  They must happen, according to his plan.

3.  Matthew 5:14-16.  Our job isn't to fall into the world patterns of fear and turmoil, but to rise above it through faith and example to show those around us that there is more than the chaos of life. 

Life is filled with trials.  Our job as Christians is to rise above the chaos and offer hope to others.  That is The Great Commission that we are called to.

God works for his people.  But do we work for God?  Sure, we try our best sometimes, but perhaps we forget God much of the time.  We put him on a shelf, so to speak, only to take Him out when we find it convenient.  Do you ever catch yourself saying "I don't have time for God right now"?  "Maybe when things slow down."  "Maybe when I retire, then I'll devote time to Him."  

God is always diligent, yet we are not.  This human flaw is no more evident than in the book of Haggai.  Haggai, a prophet, is in Jerusalem with the Israelites who have returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  After a 70 year deportation to Babylon, the Jewish people are miraculously allowed to return to Jerusalem via the pagan king Cyrus' decree (Ezra 1:1-4).

Only a small percentage of the Jews living in Babylon return.  These are the most strident Jews, the ones who are able to give up their life in Babylon (the only life they ever knew) and instead live in a desolate place with no walls.  But once in Jerusalem, a strange thing happens.  Haggai is given a word from God:

"This is what the Lord Almighty says:  These people say 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house.'" (Haggai 1:2)

Did you hear that? God has miraculously brought them to Jerusalem and the finest followers of God have come to build the temple, yet...the people, not God, have decided it isn't time to build.  Furthermore God asks:

"Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?" (Haggai 1:3-4)

What have the Israelites done?  They forgot the very purpose God freed them and the reason they were there – to rebuild the temple! Instead, they secured their own lives, went about living, deciding when it was the proper time to tend to the sacked temple.  By the way, they do this for 15 years before God calls them out.

In our own lives, we are often guilty of this same thing.  We take God out of the picture until He is necessary.  We call the shots. We make the timelines.  We get our relationship with God backwards.  It is important to remember that God is the centerpiece of our life and we are to connect (pray), listen and obey.  When we get it backwards, a problem occurs, and it is the same problem the Israelites experienced 1500 years ago:

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Because they forgot the mission, God withheld the blessing. If you are experiencing diminished returns in your life, the first thing to do is to pray.  Get reconnected.  Remember the mission.  God wants you to connect so He can grow you, keep you on task, so your life will be abundant in Him.
 

Have you ever had hard times?
Of course you have! Perhaps you aren't in a trial at this moment, but you will be sooner than later.  Some trials are small and daily while others are long sustained battles that can last weeks, months, or even a lifetime.

We are not exempt from trials.  In fact, trials are more common than good times.  Think about it...how many trials do you go through in a day?  Compare it with your level of comfort and you'll begin to see what I mean.  Trials are the norm in life.

So, if trials are the norm, we have to ask why a gracious and loving God would allow us to go through trial after trial.  The answer is found in James 1:2-4:

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James is asking us to look at trials in a different light.  He tells us to first to look at trials differently.  When we face trials (not if) we have to understand that God is developing something in us.  He's testing our faith through adversity.  Will we buckle?  We we lash out in anger?  Or will we accept it and connect with God in it?

Trails are opportunities for us to connect with God.  That's why they exist.  God uses them to test our faith.  See the perseverance part?  We have to get through the trial.  Perseverance means Patient Endurance.  God needs to perfect this in us so that we are strong and mature in our faith.

In this way we should consider it joyous when a trial comes into our life because the God of the universe is taking an active interest in our development!  It is a complete paradigm shift of thinking and something to consider when (not if) your next trial comes about. Will you turn toward God or to your own resources?

There is a lot of fear in our world. In many cases, we give into this fear on a daily basis.  We don't have to look very hard for it either.  It's on our newsfeed.  It's on the television.  It's in the conversations we have.  An unrelenting, devastating attack on us every minute of the day.

If you are a follower of God, you know that operating as a strident leader is difficult.  Doing God's work under the ever-present pressure of a world gone wild is hard, and sometimes even the most diligent workers fall into the trap of fear.

If you remember the story of Elijah, you will get a good picture of fear.  Elijah was one of God's most devoted prophets.  He challenged King Ahab face to face and dared Ahab's many priests to an apocalyptic battle on Mt. Carmel.  When God told him to go somewhere, Elijah didn't ask questions...he just went.

But when Queen Jezebel ordered the death of the prophets and singled out Elijah for the sword, he got scared and ran into the desert.  He lost hope. He wanted God to just end him.  But God had bigger plans for Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-5).

Instead of allowing Elijah to fade away, God cares for him, first physically and then spiritually, taking him on a journey to Mt. Horeb where God shows him a remarkable display.  First in a great wind, then in an earthquake and finally in a fire.  But doesn't work in the spectacle.  He whispers to Elijah, and Elijah learns an important truth about God: in the cataclysm of giant events, God is not in them.  He works quietly, in a whisper (1 Kings 19:11-18).

As leaders in our home, community or church, we have to hold an example up to others of how we trust in God's provision. In many ways, we must continually learn the same lesson that Elijah had to learn: that God is still very much at work in our lives and in this world.  That even though the world turns on a rusty and jagged axis, we still have the charge to move forward and be the best example we can be to others. Our work matters, no matter how we view it day by day.

The world will always be corrupt and will continually get worse, but our job is to always be that light of the world.  Remember, none of the prophets, saints or apostles had it any easier.  You are simply a long line of servants who work for God day in and out, and there is value in that.  Remember, Elijah couldn't see the benefit of his ministry, bu there were many whom he affected, and there is great value in that (1 Kings 19:15-18).