A Season of Rest

“Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.” I Chronicles 22:9

“And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace.” II Chronicles 14:2-6 

In the weeks before the election, I was reading in the Chronicles and kept noticing that several times the Lord choose to give Israel rest in the land and rest from their enemies. This was when the people, led by their King, repented and acted righteously or, as in Solomon’s case, determined in advance according to God’s sovereign plans.. The Lord often used enemies to invade Israel when they strayed from Him as punishment.

In the days prior to our recent election I was apprehensive about the possibility of a close election producing hard feelings and potentially violence in our land that has been struck with such turmoil and disquiet for so long. I feared for the possibility of cheating which would have generated much hatred on one side or the election of those who would possibly persecute Christians who stood for the morals of the Bible on the other. Instead, I believe God sovereignly chose to allow the election of men and women who might restore a reprieve from some of the rank immorality that has come upon our nation these last years. And they won at such a margin as to discourage significant pushback from the other side but rather reflection on how out of touch with America their views are. In short, I believe God has provided a season of rest for our country where we have a last opportunity to repent of our national and individual sins and perhaps see revival sweep the land. Oh what a merciful God we have! Let us pray for our President and leaders that they lead us so.

Let us take away the abortion clinics and transgender mutilation centers, bring thieves and other criminals to justice to restore order in the land and seek the Lord God to keep the moral laws of the Bible. If so, there will be quiet in the land and a season of rest for our country. When Israel turned back away from God after seasons of rest, God sent the enemies back in and the peace/quiet left. If/when we fail to take this reprieve to restore national morality we will again see riots in our streets, thievery, violence, fascist suppression of free speech and authorities refusing to punish crime and letting turmoil reign that has characterized our country these last years. As Christians, let us endeavor to exhibit strong morals, forgiveness, charity, a fearless faith in God and thereby persuade many on the other side to give up their wicked lives and views and make our country a much better place to live.