Trusting God

Watching the 24 hour news cycle can be rather daunting at times. The competition drives the reporters to sensationalize current events. I am not diminishing that there is pain and suffering in our world today. We should never grow callous to the cries of others. One reporter was talking about the issues of our day and saying that this is one of the darkest moments in our history. I almost laughed out loud. Yes, we are divided and I pray we can find unity to solve our problems but we are blessed in so many ways. Take one hundred years ago. The “war to end all wars” had concluded with over 116 thousand killed and more than 200,000 wounded Americans. The numbers for other nations were staggering. During the war the worst flu pandemic in the history broke out. Over 500 million were infected worldwide and estimates of 50 to 100 million died, primarily healthy younger adults. Walking through Oakwood Cemetery one day I noticed in the older section many markers with 1918 or 1919 as the death year, many infants and young. Imagine the fear gripping Kosciusko County in those days! During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed on May 11, 1918: “‘It being the duty peculiarly incumbent in a time of war humbly and devoutly to acknowledge our dependence on Almighty God and to implore His aid and protection...I, Woodrow Wilson...proclaim...a Day of Public Humiliation, Prayer and Fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens...to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins.” Though public assembly was discouraged a few months later to reduce infection, calls for prayer to Almighty God spread across the globe. At the end of the pandemic 3-5 % of the world’s population had died. Today is not the darkest moment in our history. The murkiness of our day is that as a Nation we continue to push God out of our public life. A century ago the United States heeded the Word of God, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me." - Psalm 50:15. In these days it would behoove us to look to the God we proclaim we trust and ask Him to forgive us of our sins. Live not knowing what the future holds, but always seeking and thanking the One who holds the future.