Looking Out for Our Country

“I’ve been lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” That was a line from a country song popular when I was much younger. I related to it very well at the time, as I often went looking for relationships to satisfy my soul, especially before I entered into a real relationship with the Lover of my soul, Jesus Christ. I also frequently went looking for help, for direction, and for answers in all the wrong places, too. Can you relate?

Today I was struck in the Bible by the examples I happened across about people “looking”. Take Lamentations 4 for example. Jeremiah, the presumed author, grieved over the state of Jerusalem. He wept because the people had rejected the God who made them, loved them, and blessed them. And being a prophet, He could see and foresee God’s wrath upon them. Jeremiah sung a song of sadness over the state of God’s chosen people.

Enter in the concept of “looking”. Lamentations 4:17 says, “Yet our eyes failed; looking for help was useless, in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.” The people were looking for help, but their looking was useless. Why? I see two reasons. One, they were looking to the wrong source. They were looking to other people for help rather than to God. God had proven repeatedly to be their great Helper, even as He directed them to help themselves by leading them to take actions that would benefit them. But, they were not looking to Him for their salvation; instead they were looking to man for their direction, their protection, and even their inspiration.

Two, they were looking rather than doing. Consider Mark 3:1-5. Jesus enters a synagogue in the presence of Pharisees, and in the presence of a man with a withered hand. Verse two tells us the Pharisees were “watching Him” to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him of breaking the law. When Jesus asked them whether one should do good or harm on the Sabbath, they simply “kept silent.” They were likely stumped with no good answer. What did Jesus do? He looked around with anger and grief over their hardness of heart. And He healed. The Pharisees looked on with criticism and did nothing. Jesus looked on with a broken heart and took action.

This concept of looking got me to thinking about the state of America today. We are in the midst of an extremely important presidential election. Perhaps it will prove to be the most historic election since our country’s beginning. How will we respond? Will we be like the people of Jerusalem, who looked for help in all the wrong places? That, according to Lamentations, is useless. Will we be like the Pharisees, who simply watch with a critical heart to see what will happen? That, according to Mark, grieves God. Or will we be like Jesus and look at our situation with a heart after God’s own heart, breaking in sadness over the state of His people today, and DO something?

Be warned. In Lamentations 4:12, Jeremiah described the condition of Jerusalem - the capital of Israel, the “city of God” - in this way: “The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.” Now, in place of the word Jerusalem, substitute America or Washington D.C. in this verse and see what you get. In verses 13-14, Jeremiah sheds light on why they were in this situation – “Because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests….They wandered, blind, in the streets.” The prophets and priests had sinned so badly, they were blinded to their own condition, wandering aimlessly and hopelessly in their own sins and leading others to do the same. The failures and inactions of the spiritual leaders left the nation looking in vain for help from someone else.

How will you choose to look on our situation today? Will you focus your time and eyes looking for a human’s inspiration and protection, or Heaven’s? Will you stand by watching to see what happens, or will you look up seeking to take appropriate actions? Will you sway others as you turn a blind eye to the obvious spiritual warfare at hand, or will you influence others for good as you openly turn your eyes to God and respond to His direction? America needs to turn their eyes and hearts to God. But much of America will follow the lead of others. She needs Christians to quit being passive and start being active in responding to the current crisis of our great country.