FRET NOT... BUT PAY ATTENTION

This morning started with Psalm 37 and I got through all of 2 verses:

Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

I became enamored with “Fret not thyself because of evildoers.” This caught my attention because I am fretting, not over the evil doers so much as over the Christians who are not paying any attention to the evil doers; other than to shrug and say that God is in control so we do not need to concern ourselves with that.

Back in the early days of believing in the One True God, God was very active among his people and He took some really “drastic” actions to get people straightened out: The banning of Cain; the Flood; the confusion of language; the killing of thousands of people at a time to make a point that said, Do not lead my people astray!

He also allowed several instances of enslavement and limitation of freedom by the constant changing of Empires. Even when Christ was there, the people where in a situation where they were limited in their freedoms. They were in charge of each other, but they were not the final authority of government and they had no say, whatsoever, over how the government  would work. They could only have say over themselves and their worship.

Now verse one is not talking just about government, but it is talking about government as well as every other situation of life. There were evil doers in general, there were evil doers in Jewish leadership, and there were evil doers in the Roman government.

The people could do something about their personal behaviors and those of their neighbors, but they had very little influence over their religious leaders and no control, whatsoever over the Roman government.

But, today, we do have the freedom and power to have control over our government. (Well, yesterday we did – not so sure about today...) That means that we have a responsibility to pay attention to what is going on: Head in the sand is not an option.

This verse does not say, “Look the other way or pay no attention.” It says to not let ourselves become dismayed or discouraged or even depressed over the evil going on around us. Why? Because God will ultimately handle punishment of the evil on this earth. 

But we need to do our part to limit the spread of evil. That is one of the purposes of our still being here.

In this country we still have the vote. We are loosing it because we are not paying attention, but we sill have it; we have the right to have a say in our government. We must exercise that right.

Looking back into the times of the kings, we can see a lot of laziness among the people and their kings: Well, everybody is doing it, we can't change that, so let's join in. Or, if we prefer not to join in, let's not “upset the apple cart” by voicing our opinion.

Our responsibility, in these evil days, is to continue having and voicing an opinion!In order to have an opinion, we have a responsibility to pay attention, one way or another. 

One simple way these days is to pick and choose reliable sources of news and information, and seek them out periodically, if not everyday, and see what is happening, good and bad.

A reliable source of right-wing conservative news is FOX network; a reliable source of left-wing liberal news is CNN. For a variety of otherwise mostly white-washed news, almost any other network would do. Or any newspaper for that matter.

For updates on serious social issues there are many well written sites also available: (Warning: these will be conservative sites...)

Abortion: Oregon Right to Life at https://www.ortl.org/

Human Trafficking: Shared Hope International at http://www.sharedhope.org/

Compelling social issues, The Radiance Foundation at http://www.theradiancefoundation.org/

As for political issues being hit hard by conservative bloggers, I recommend hard driving writers such as...

Matt Walsh (Political and Social issues)  http://www.themattwalshblog.com/ 

David Michael Lynch - DMLdaily (hard hitting on Illegal alien immigration issues) http://dmldaily.com/

And there are many more, I am sure. These are the ones I have chosen to follow.

All of these sites are also available through facebook. Truthfully, facebook has become my daily newspaper. I pick and choose the news I want to look further into as I see the headlines available to me. This keeps me well informed, even though I do not visit any liberal sites - unless one comes up through my other sites and looks interestingly untruthful. :)

For a balance of daily information, there are many sites which have at least daily uplifting things to share, and there are many sites that are missionary related and should be on your “keep me updated” list. These days there is no excuse for not being somewhat familiar with what is going on in the world, if you have a computer (and I know you do!). :)

The simple point I am making is that we need to care, but not fret. We need to keep informed and think through at least a few issues that matter. And, right now, Obama Care, Common Core, Human Trafficking, Abortion, and Illegal Alien immigration are seriously important issues to consider when voting in November. We need to be at least acquainted with them before the election, and we need to make up our minds to select people we want to vote for based on these issues as well as our personal ones.

BUT no one is going to be a perfect candidate; so we need to be ready to vote for someone who stands up on our side, at least on most of these issues, AND is someone who could possibly win a seat somewhere that will put someone against us out of business!!

Right now we need to get Obama people out of business and the only way we can do that is by voting for someone who does NOT support his line of thinking, EVEN if they do not completely support ours. THERE ARE NO PERFECT CANDIDATES. Don't wait for one. 

Throw the liberals out wherever you can by voting against them; even if you are not whole heartily FOR the other candidate. VOTE the ones who follow Obama's thinking OUT. It is our duty to try to get rid of as much of the prevalent evil as we possibly can by voting together to make change. Serious change.

May we “fret not” but still pay attention; May we pray for relief from this burdensome situation; relief here and now, not just later, when Christ comes or we go to Him.

Now is the time that we live and now is the time to take back this place where we live. Pray about it, work toward it and VOTE. (And don't listen to the Ads so much. - They are full of lies about both sides. Watch and listen to what is happening and make up your own mind what is important; then act on it.

As for me, I will be voting against Obama and his regime as often as I possibly can – because I believe that God would have me striving to protect myself and my neighbors from evil, wherever it exists; even though I am assured that later on, all will be crushed in the end. 

We are to live in the present as an instrument of God. Let's go for it.