Isaiah 8:12 Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not dread it. (NIV)

We live in the age of conspiracy, or at the very least, the age of conspiracy theories. There is the Kennedy Conspiracy, the Roswell Conspiracy, the Vaccine Conspiracy, the Illumanati, the Trilateral Commission, the Lincoln Conspiracy, the Clinton Conspiracies, the Russian Altered Election Conspiracy, the Fake News Conspiracy. Oh my, i even heard from a reliable source that Captain America was really a Nazi-loving member of Hydra.

So what is true and what isn’t? What if we aren’t paranoid, but “They” are really out to get us?

Our enemies, both physical and spiritual, cannot keep truth hidden forever.  However, we can become so inundated with conspiracies and conspiracy theories (and news and fake news and fake fake news) that it has become nearly impossible to detect what is true and what is not. (Is that the Conspiracy Conspiracy?)

Of course, this applies to our entire belief system.  There are so many conflicted beliefs, facts, and opinions, it’s hard to focus on what really is true.  Our focus needs focus (apologies to the Karate Kid).

Paul writes in First Corinthians, “I resolve to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and Him crucified.”  Yes, we should be concerned about what is going on in the world; but our focus must always be primarily on what is above.

Isaiah 8:13 goes on to tell us, “You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be held in awe.”

What if things go amiss?

Call 911.  Psalm 91:1, that is. “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

Song of Songs 7:4c Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon. (NIV)

I just read through the “Song of Songs” in the Bible. On the surface it appears to be letters between two lovers, possibly King Solomom and his bride.  Some commentators suggest it is, if not completely, at least partially, allegorical. The idea is that the deeper meaning reflects Jesus and His bride, the church.

Most of the book is dedicated to heaping compliments on the physical charms of one lover to the other. However, the above verse stood out to me because, well…  if I told my wife her nose was like the tower of Lebanon, I don’t think she would take that as a compliment. In fact, I’m not sure anyone would.

After I had a good time laughing to myself, I started thinking. The truth is: when we truly love someone, we love them in spite of their imperfections. Sometimes, it is those very things that help us endear that someone to our hearts.

I believe that is exactly how God sees us.  I’m not talking about gross sin here.  I’m talking about our human frailities and vulnerabilities.  God loves us in spite of them and just maybe because of them, He has to show us a little extra love.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. (KJV)

Recently I heard “Turn! Turn! Turn!” on the radio. I found myself singing the lyrics to that song in my head. Then it struck me. The Byrds didn’t come up with the lyrics to that song. Neither did Pete Seeger. Of course, we know that, but I started thinking about the various implications.

The song reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1965. However, the lyrics were written maybe as early as the 10th century BC. This kind of emphasizes the point that there is nothing new under the sun, but that is not what really got my mind thinking.

Sometimes we may feel that we missed an opportunity or passed up something we regret having let slip by. Sometimes things just seem to take too long to get where we want them to be, or we cannot reach the hopes we once had. Maybe we even let hope fade away completely.

We simply just need to remember that there is a TIME for EVERY purpose under the sun. Do not be discouraged or dismayed. Let us pray that each of us my reach our PURPOSE in the time that God has appointed.

Proverbs 15:15 Everyday is a terrible day for a miserable person, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. (GWT)

In this scripture the Hebrew word used for miserable also means afflicted or depressed in mind or circumstance. Sometimes we get caught up in the daily cares of this world. Sometimes we become overwhelmed by the circumstance of our environment. Sometimes our mind or emotions take us to a dark place, and we may have very valid reasons to be in that state.
However, I remember years ago, there was a public official in Pennsylvania named Manny Gordon. You would often see him on TV saying, “It’s a beautiful day in Pennsylvania!”
It didn’t matter what color the skies were, what the outlook was for the weather or the economy. Manny always proclaimed it a “beautiful day in Pennsylvania”. Manny was somehow able to take what ever was going on, and focus on the beauty.
There is no doubt about it. The world is a hard and a tough place. Yet, paradoxically, it is filled with beauty and awe and wonder.
Perhaps we can choose to remember that the Bible tells us that our citizenship is in heaven, and we are even now seated with Christ and that He said He would never leave us nor forsake us.
Where we are now is not a final stop, but rather a point we are passing through on the way to our final destination.
If we can do that, just maybe, it might be easier to do another thing Manny Gordon used to say and “Enjoy, Enjoy!”

Joshua 5:13-14 Now Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?’

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”  (NIV)

At the time of the above passage, Moses had died and Joshua had taken over command of the nation of Israel.  Joshua was chosen by God to lead the people chosen by God into the Promised Land. Yet, here the very commander of God’s Army (which I assume to be the very Hosts of Heaven) said that he is neither for them or against them.

Guess what? God is not a Republican. Neither is God a Democrat. God is not even an American. God is not on Donald Trump’s side.  He is not opposed to Donald Trump. He expects us to be on His side.

In these troubled times, perhaps we need to do exactly as Joshua did, fall on our face and ask the God of Heaven, what message does He have for us.

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. (NIV)

The bashing of the people we politically dislike seems to worsen. The blind trust and praise of people who hate our enemies (real or imagined) appears to dominate the thoughts, words, and behavior of our society.  However, our trust is misplaced if it follows the way of the world.  Our faith is misguided if it is in the rhetoric of any man or organization. If our confidence is only in our own strength or in the belief of the weakness of others, than our strength and confidence are vested in things that wither, die, or pass away.

Take heart.  There is a cause for hope. There is a reason to trust and have faith that there is a better way. This occurs when our beliefs and values are vested in that which is permanent and do not whither or die.  Ultimately and finally, all things pass away, save that which lie in the hands of God alone.

Psalm 5:12 Surely Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with Your favor as with a shield. (NIV)

I have always had a hard time believing that this could be for me.  (And the many verses like it). I wanted the blessings of God, but my own righteousness was far too little, if existent at all. Worse, sometimes the better I tried to be, the more unworthy I thought I was becoming.

But… there is a solution.  In Romans 3:22 we are told, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all  who believe.”

This is not a license to licentiousness nor an invitation to immorality; and not an evocation to do evil.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery (the woman where Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone), to “Sin no more,”  Paul wrote to the Philippians to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”.

God knows that it is impossible for us to be completely spotless, so He has made a Way for us.  He has given us an opportunity to not be held accountable for eternity for our wrong doings. We cannot earn it, but we can try anew to do our best to live a life pleasing to God with a grateful heart.

2 Peter 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. (KJV)

I have refrained from making any political comments concerning this Presidential election. However, two things come to mind. The first: I believe Abraham Lincoln once quoted a French philosopher saying, “In a democracy, people get the leaders the majority deserves.”

The second is out of the Old Testament in the Book of Numbers. Peter was referring to this in the above Bible verse. The prophet Balaam was on his way to do something he shouldn’t ought to do.  An angel was about to smite him when his donkey prevented him from going on.

You see this is why we must pray for and after this election.  God used a dumb ass to save the day at least once.  Perhaps if we humble ourselves and pray, He will do it again.

Psalm 14:1a  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  (NIV)

I remember reading a Peanuts cartoon some years back. Lucy had just been mean to her brother Linus.  It was winter, and Linus went outside and built a snowman that looked like Lucy. When she saw it, she came running out and said, “You think you are so smart!  You built a snowman that looks like me. And now you are going to kick it apart!”

Linus said, “Quite to the contrary. I am just going to stand here and watch it slowly melt away.”

The footnote for the Bible verse above in the NIV says that the Hebrew word used for “fool” means someone who is morally deficient. Upon checking into it, I found Strong’s Hebrew dictionary states that it also means among other things, to fade away, to be senseless, to sink, to wither.

Without God, without a sense of higher purpose, or a belief that there is a higher good or truth, it becomes decidedly easy to drift through life and sink into a void, and slowly (sometimes quickly), fade into oblivion.

Without God, we can easily become like Linus’ snowman and just melt away.

Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. (NIV)

Job was at the top of the heap, king of the hill, spiritually, financially and about every way in which someone could think.  However, though no fault of his own, he lost family, farm, and fortune.  Some of his friends still hung around, but they just blamed him for all the things that went wrong.  Job was under the rock at rock bottom.  All he had left was a prayer, and he offered that prayer up to God for his friends.

There is a whole lot of things we could discuss when we talk about Job.  However, this particular verse has always touched me.  It is significant for several reasons. The first thing first is that forgiveness is often the first step in restoration.

Job’s so-called friends were ugly to him, but Job did not attack them.  He did not post ugly things about them on Facebook nor did he call on the Lord to send fire down from heaven and zap them. He prayed for them.

That is kind of God’s formula to a happy life. “Pray for them which despitefully use you.”  “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  “Judge not lest you be judged.”  All lessons we may have heard growing up or in Sunday school.

The King James Version of the Bible starts this verse this way: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job…”  You see, our own outlook on life is probably the biggest thing that holds us prisoner.  Job’s situation was dire and spiraling further into darkness.  Once he could get his focus off himself and on what God wanted him to do, he began to see the light and restoration was on the way.