A Call to the Church

I’m a news junkie, but my habit is causing me grief and so I may have to give it up. Almost everything I hear or read seems to reinforce one conclusion: Our nation has reached the nadir of her moral strength and leadership in the world. This is a great tragedy, because we have so much to lose.

Our wholesale rebellion against God began some 40 or so years ago, but we have been coasting on the momentum of a better, stronger time since then. Now, however, that borrowed energy has just about run out. As we grind to a halt, we are beginning to feel the full impact of the folly of that rebellion in this generation. Indeed, soon to come of age is the first generation in our history who barely have a nodding acquaintance with even cultural Christianity and who have no knowledge of or respect for God and His ways. Even in the household of God, there is little difference between the churched and the unchurched. It has left us empty, shallow, coarse, cold-hearted, and selfish.

As a result, there are, of course, consequences to be paid as a nation. I could fill a thousand blogs listing them. Suffice it to say that we are left without a moral compass, we are abandoning our God-given destiny and, worst of all, we have dishonored God.

As I was thinking these doleful thoughts this morning, I picked up my Bible, which fell open to Isaiah 54 and 55, and began to read. I know that Isaiah was writing about Israel and not the United States, yet we are so similar to Israel in our cycles of apostasy, and I desperately pray that we would similarly find God’s forgiveness and restoration as expressed in these chapters. I urge you to read and pray Isaiah 54 for the United States. I believe that the generous mercy described there is still available to us today if we will humble ourselves before God and ask for His gift of repentance. I’m encouraged by Chapter 55:1-3 and 6-7:

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David."

"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."

Verse 2 sums up what we have done as a people:

“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

We have spent all we have on self-indulgence, sensuality, lust for money, rebellion, materialism and other worthless sins. Now, our souls are bankrupt, gaunt and starved, and yet we say, “’I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—” (Revelation 3:17) And we continue to look for nourishment everywhere but in God. God, however, in His amazing mercy, still calls to us to return to Him.

As I read this morning, I felt that these words are a clarion call to the Church in this season, right now. God is calling us to “come.” He is calling the unconverted, but He is especially calling His own people who have become apathetic and backslidden and have been seduced by other things that do not satisfy.

God has been speaking to the whole church that the heavens are open in this season and that grace is readily available for every need. He has extended the golden scepter to us and urges, “Ask what you will and I will grant it.” If you are a believer whose heart has become cold, God says, “Come.” Do it now, while he is calling. If you are a Christian walking closely with the Lord, call on Him in a spirit of intercession for others. He WILL hear and answer. He is ready to forgive and restore and even bring us to our finest hour. This is our time. Do it for the honor of God and the advance of His kingdom, and do it for our nation’s future.