The Nations Have Fallen Into The Pit

Psalms 9:15-20 NIV

"The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God. But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal."

As I read these words this morning I could not help but reflect on our nation and the world in general. We seem to be on collision course internationally, while at home our heads may be in the sand.

Among those most partisan, there is a sense of hope, yet sadly rooted in Christian nationalism and isolation. Neither have worked well in the past, as anyone still alive who was raised in Luther's Germany could attest to.

History can be repeated if we do not learn from it!

Antisemitism, though rightful in concept, is being taunted as a strategic distraction, while the long hard victories for equity are being dismantled.

Blatant cronyism, by no means hidden, is making the rich richer, while the poor have only promises and higher prices. Those prices no longer under our control given our dependency upon imports.

Though I understand the purported intent to bring investment back to America, by way of tariffs, which also we are told will create excess income to pay off a soaring national debt.

Meanwhile tax breaks are also be taunted, baiting the dying lower middle class with such pittance as no tax on tips! The purse of the wealthy likely the intent, with tariffs being sold as means of revenue to sustain a broken federal machine. I'll ask those who early on swallowed the bait, how's that working for you?

The sad part is the poor and the cronies still chant hooray at rallies when words like "we love our Bible" and "In God We Trust" are rhetoric used to manipulate public opinion, both in the Rose Garden and continued rallies. Yet, only days before the National Day of Prayer an arrest was made of a prominent pastor, nationally known for his fight for the poor. He was caught praying in the Capital's rotunda!

Maybe my spirit is being troubled by parallels evident as I read from McDonough's, 1933-1939, and the haranguings of Hitler. Distraction was a stategy he created with Czechoslovakia, so similar to Putin's Ukraine, meanwhile preparing for war under the nose of Brittish naivete. I somehow feel our own leaders a little naive, if not drunkened by the thoughts of global superiority and economic dependency once true of America.

Meanwhile our congress sits quite while the judicial challenges go unheeded as those tariffs now stir the potential for a global economic disaster. Worse yet, providing legitimacy for China to expand its already vast war machine. Whether by nuclear war heads, advanced technology that could disrupt critical communications or by way of economic manipulation, China holds trump cards (pun intended) to advantage themselves given the consumerism in America.

All this is creating a global instability that surfaces as I read words like "the nations have fallen into a pit they have dug."

Perhaps this moment is a wake up call for Christ-followers? However, if not awakened, I trust that verse 18 holds true: "But God will never forget the needy!"