It Won't Be The Last Time We Hear This Line

In Psalm 12:1, David writes "Help, Lord, for the godly are no more..." Who hasn't felt that way from time to time, wallowing in the misery that we alone are doing the Lord's will and that everyone else is against us. We'll hear it again quite clearly in about a month or so (specifically, on June 15th) and we've heard Moses despair from time to time like this, but what should we do when we feel like this?

Obviously, the first answer is to pray. The second answer is to remember that even though things might look grim, it is still God's world. Keep in mind I'm discussing occasions where we think the WORLD is against, not specific events like illness, death or other personal sufferings--I'd never be so callous as to tell someone who is dealing with a tragedy to buck up. No, I'm writing specifically when we think that that godless have taken over the world and every element in it and that we're helpless before it.

The third thing to do is to simply not accept the premise and go to work to fix the ails of the world. One person can't do it all, but many people working in concert can accomplish great things. While picking up my daughter at Loyola today, I noticed a flyer for a conference on socialism to be held in Chicago. I mentioned to my wife and Alison just how far on the wrong side of history those people are, since everything we're seeing in the Middle East uprisings is predicated on people demanding freedom and democracy, and certainly not more top-down autocratic government. 

The same holds true for Christians today. Look at EVERY OTHER religion that has come and gone in the world--they've come and GONE. In other words, they didn't last. Not only is God's word that same yesterday, today and forever, GOD is the same, and try as they might, Christianity can't be wiped off the face of God's earth. That's not to say it can't disappear in places--try finding a Christian church in Turkey, one of the vibrant hotbeds of the early Christian church. 

I won't deny that it might feel like the godly might be harder to find sometimes, but they'll never disappear. The only way that can happen is if we stop looking for them.

Scott