Have you noticed that you can’t rely on anything, anymore? Many of the human structures we have trusted are now exposed as rotten. Churches. Education. Political parties. Journalism. Everything including the Boy Scouts (instituted in the times of George Washington) is now polluted and under attack. Companies are woke and pushing their filth on society. Journalists have turned into dispensers of propaganda, so much so, that we must dig for accurate information from other sources. Even entertainment has become filthy and loaded with perverse agendas.
It’s a jungle out there!
Psalms 11:3 says “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” We know about the problems. We are looking for solutions. Perhaps we are looking for the solution too early, because there is more that must be revealed first. Early this year I preached a message at Destiny about Sifting. Sifting separates. Wheat from tares. Grain from chaff. Pure from filth. Righteous from wicked. Sifting is a process and it’s not all bad. In fact, through sifting purity emerges. Yes, the garbage will be shaken out, but so will the clean. God loves the clean. He hates the wicked. If this season is about sifting then God is doing it, we must endure it, and we must redefine who and what we are going to trust.
Consider the church for a moment. Many people have attended a church because they like the music, the message, the programs, or because their family has been entrenched there for years. Then comes the sifting. Corruption is exposed in the church. The message has become lukewarm or cold. God is sidelined for social justice. What do the people do? Will they sift into this now-corrupt gathering, or will they gather with the pure? Sifting.
We are seeing this with political parties. Many people have chosen to align with a party because of their family, culture, or what the party has told them they believe. Now comes sifting. The major political parties have now been exposed as being largely corrupt and in love with power. Liberty is not in their hearts, nor is the good of the people they claim to serve. It’s a time of sifting. What do we do?
I could go on with a host of examples, but you have better ones than I do. Everything in our lives is being shaken. We have decisions we must make in this season, and none of them will be comfortable. So let’s determine the framework that helps us make good, godly decisions, shall we? Here are a few suggestions.
First, we must accept the fact that God is on the move, and we may need to move, too. New churches, schools,states, even friends may be in our future, and the time to move is now. Second, we must ask what we have accepted in our lives that we should reject. What have we condoned, when God has not? This is chaff, stubble, and garbage. It’s time to take out the trash. Third, let’s ask God to direct us. Many of us, even Christians, have become far too self-reliant and not God-reliant. God spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He can speak to us. We need to make hearing and acting on God’s direction our top priority. This will involve a deeper commitment to reading our Bibles, praying, and being in church families that are actually families (and are like-minded). God speaks. Will we listen and obey?
Sifting doesn’t just purge out the bad stuff. It also sifts together the good. As dark becomes darker, light becomes more powerful. Let God join you with His best, even if He leads us all into a wilderness (as He did with Israel of old). God has plans for you, but they are based on decisions that you must make. In or out? Hot or cold? Yes or no? My bias is going to be to submit to God first. After all, He can do more with my submission to Him than my works for Him could ever do in a lifetime of service? Let’s move!