This article is sensitive, provocative, and calls for sober evaluation of deeply entrenched beliefs. Please do NOT read if you are easily offended.
As a Christian exhorter, I steer clear of politics as best I can. I am not a commentator, and this is not a political discourse or analysis, but it does touch on matters of social ramifications that have taken place on the international arena lately. This one thing I know: If Christians shall have influence in today’s world, we must pay close attention to current affairs. We must carefully evaluate the effects of world events on our lives, on others, and how they relate to our mission as God’s instruments.
Time and Chance
Ecclesiastes 9:11 (Mark the verse number—911—It’s a good mnemonic trigger!)
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. (~KJV)
I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time (~NLT)
What’s this strange verse saying? What is ‘time’ and ‘chance’ that happens to everyone? Regardless of your doctrinal persuasion, you’ll concur that problems are common to all men, and that they strike at any time. The righteous and unrighteous are plagued by troubles prevalent in their geographical locations. If there’s drought, it hits everyone in a region. Epidemics like Ebola, floods, etc, indiscriminately sweep across vast regions of human habitation with devastating results. If magma starts erupting from the ground and consuming homes, as is happening in Hawaii right now, believers and unbelievers are affected. When bad political players take the helm, consequences of their decisions affect everyone.
Something else; if you couldn’t choose where you’d be born, you couldn’t choose factors that would propel your life. Being in the right place at the right time is not something you can always fix. Who would choose to be born in a warzone? Who would choose to raise his/her children in poverty, prejudice or moral vice? If it were possible, majority of people on earth today would have chosen a different cradle for their childhood. Whatever the case, a Christian is required to respond in a Godly way no matter what challenges life presents.
In the News
Yesterday, 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad—former Malaysian PM—became the world’s oldest elected political figure. He returned from retirement to run for office accusing his successor of corruption. He was in office for twenty-two years, within which he jailed rivals. In his swearing-in speech, Mr Mahathir has promised to pardon his jailed opponents and hand power over to them in a few years! Can you foresee the kind of political turmoil being fomented? Do you think God is setting that nation up for trouble? PRAY for Malaysia!
While in east Asia, consider the plight of Rohingya Muslims uprooted from their homes in Myanmar (Burma) and now enduring untold suffering as refugees in neighboring Bangladesh. Today, Rohingya Muslims are arguably the worlds most persecuted minority. Burmese head of government and Nobel laureate, State Chancellor Aung San Suu Kyi says she’s unaware of any ethnic cleansing taking place in her country! She blames the persecuted for their woes. Does God care about Rohingya Muslims? If you know that human life is the most precious thing in God’s heart, PRAY for the Rohingya Muslims!
This week, a Nigerian female student at Yale University dozed off at the common Hall of Graduate Studies while working on a paper. A white female student called the police who went ahead to harass the black student even after she’d identified herself as a bona fide Yale graduate student! The video she recorded of the incident has caused sensations around the globe. Has God apportioned superiority and inferiority to children of men depending on their demographics? If you know God to be the loving impartial Father of us all, PRAY against racial prejudice in America and the world.
Following Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s publicized disclosure that Iran has been clandestinely working at producing nuclear weapons, US president Donald Trump has reneged on the deal signed by US government under Obama administration and other major international players. Two nights ago, Israel launched missile attacks on Iran’s outposts in Syria to prevent Iran from establishing bases along her bounders. Depending on whose version of reality you choose to believe, the world is either in uproar or playing passive blame games.
Always, the vast majority of casualties of war are helpless civilians, women, and children. In Christendom, the easy resort is to “side with God’s People”. I defend Israel’s right to exist. Right to life is God given; it’s a privilege for all humans. Yet, in the circumstances, I am deeply troubled. When Israel goes to war with another nation and innocent children, women, men, and property are destroyed, for whose victory does God smile? For whose ruin does God rejoice? If you know Jesus as the Prince of Peace and Savior of the world, PRAY for peaceful resolution to political crisis building up in the Middle East. PRAY that God gives wisdom, grace and restraint to political leaders of our present world. When disciples wished to burn down Samaritan villages with heavenly fire, Jesus “rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. …The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them… (Luk 9:55,56 ~KJV)
Adjust Your Sails
Last month, my wife and I flew to Chicago to attend our lastborn daughter’s bootcamp graduation at the Greatlakes Naval Training Center. The reviewing officer, Rear Admiral Thomas Luscher (~Commander, Naval Reserve Forces Command) gave a clear if succinct word to the graduating sailors. I’d love to share his thoughts with you. “The pessimistic sailor complains about the wind. The optimistic sailor expects the wind to change. The US Navy sailor adjusts the sails.”
In other words, a good sailor studies the wind. A smart sailor puts factors that affect his vessel into proper perspective. A poor sailor, on the other hand, either complains or engages in baseless hope, none of which can change the wind! A wise navigator is trained on how to make progress in spite of unfavorable conditions. As a Christian, you have a vessel to pilot to safety. Your cargo comprises souls with an eternal destiny. As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, you are not called to fix blame, but problems.
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jer 33:3)