SCRIP-BITS

Oh Friends in Christ, a happy Saturday to you all! Let’s begin with some words of Wisdom for Today from Gloria Copeland’s ‘Hidden Treasures; abundant living in the riches of proverbs.’ These are from the end of Chapter 2. ‘Direct your heart and mind towards God’s wisdom and knowledge. Expect to hear from God today; don’t miss him in the little things. Walk in discretion. Resist temptation as soon as it confronts you.’ They are indeed wise words my people, and if we follow them, then we’ll surely walk in God’s way, be at peace, and prosper. Now turning to our Bit. Yesterday we looked at Bruh Paul’s four basic types of prayer; ‘supplications, prayers (general), intercessions, and giving of thanks,’ and also defined them. Today we’ll see why He said that prayers should ‘be made for all men.’ There are three chief reasons, each of which he spells out in a later verse. The first reason is: ‘For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.’ (1 Tim.2:2) That means intercessory prayers for leaders and those in authority are necessary for Christians to lead a ‘quiet and peaceable’ or calm and tranquil life. Now here’s the scholars’ take on that particular subject. ‘The word quiet means ‘not troubled from without’; that is, intercessory prayer enables good government to ensure that its citizens are not troubled by enemies or forces outside its borders. Peaceable means ‘not troubled from within’; that is, the church’s prayer also aids competent government in maintaining law and order within its own borders.’ That certainly makes sense, for we all need our leaders to be empowered to keep our national enemies at bay, and also to provide stability and calm at home, without which no nation or group can prosper. And the scholars have put forward an interesting claim about the wording of that verse. ‘The translation ‘godliness and honesty’ is unfortunate, for the exercise of these virtues is not dependent upon good government; they can be cultivated even in poor political management and persecution. The text should read, ‘That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life with the utmost reverence and respect.’ This respect is for governmental authority. Respect can best be realized when rulers are competent and rightly discharging their duties. Otherwise, it is difficult to respect rulers when they are incompetent and unjust.’ And they do have a valid point, for it’s very hard to respect inefficient and unfair rulers, regardless of how much you try to honour God. And that’s exactly what’s showing out right now across the Arab world. Many of the people are devout, but they’ve lived under such tyrannical and despotic rule for so long, that they’ve reached the end of their rope, and are finally saying, enough is enough. Whatever God you worship, your faith will only allow you to live in poverty, want and oppression for so long. Eventually, that same faith will make you rise up and seek redress, seek a better way. Oh Friends, that’s elementary psychology! Keep a man down long enough, he’ll either just lie down and die, or with nothing left to lose, rise up and retaliate. That’s just how God made all His creatures; both man and beast. There’s this state of being cornered, with your back against the wall, with nowhere to go but forward, against your aggressor. At those times fear is joined by anger, frustration and a sense of it’s do or die anyway, so the natural instinct of self-preservation that God endowed all His creatures with, rises to the fore and gives us an hitherto unknown strength and fearlessness to confront our adversaries head on, to the death if needs be. So why can’t these foolish leaders who try to keep their fellow man in subjection and abominable poverty for long periods, while living in royal splendour themselves, understand that that state of affairs only lasts for a relatively short time? That brings to mind the Rasta breddren that taught me History in High School. He’d put his feet, encased in Clarke’s brogues, up on the desk, twiddle his sparse, wiry grey beard and philosophically intone: ‘What is History? History is a record of the past. And why do we learn History? So that we can understand the present.’ And I like to add; navigate the future. But it’s obvious that many of our leaders around the globe have no use for History, or foolishly think that they are different to the other fallen despots. How false! For if we keep making the same mistakes, then the same results will befall us. That’s why they say; History repeats itself. But despite the overflowing graveyard of vanquished despots, dictators and bullies, too many of us still foolishly think we’re so different, even invincible. It’s God’s law that we all meet our match, get our comeuppance sooner or later. So let’s be wise, LOVE Our God, SPREAD His Word and LIVE Our Faith! That’s the only way to ensure a peaceable and quiet life. More tomorrow on this subject, God willing. And a serious note of warning here Friends. It’s essential that we blitz our God with intercessory prayers for our leaders in the West, in the supposed democratic societies, for many of them are getting too big for their breeches, and taking on some dictatorial characteristics. And isn’t it interesting, remarkable really, that the people in the Mid-East who’ve been oppressed for so long, are now rising up for freedom, while we in the West are being slowly, but surely, turned into fearful and frightened societies, and de facto Police States by the cowardly murders, soberly called terrorism, by some of those same people. Much LOVE!…as the man said…power corrupts…and absolute power…corrupts absolutely…