On Tuesday, June 15, 2010 Present Barack Obama addressed the American people and the world from his oval office at the White House after returning from his third of fourth trip to the Gulf Coast due to the oil spill caused by, or at least mainly, by oil producing giant BP. This oil spill is horrible and seems as if it cannot be stopped in the near future. Thousands of gallons, if not millions of gallons of crude oil is pouring into the Gulf Coast killing marine life, polluting the water, polluting beaches, ending people's careers, and worst of all spreading like a fast moving deadly cancer.
As I was driving to work Tuesday morning I was listening to WTOP a news radio talk show. They asked the question, "What do you want President Obama to tell the American people about the BP oil spill during his address?" They played a number of callers' responses, but one thing I did not hear anyone ask for was the truth. It is amazing how some callers seem to personally blame the president for causing the oil spill and are angry that he cannot single handily end it. One thing no caller asked for was the truth. What is the truth about this entire situation? The truth is that it is a very complex international situation that will take time to resolve and perhaps decades to recover from.
When I think about this oil spill I think about the prophet Jeremiah. He lived at a time when God's people were in rebellion. They just refused to live by God's word. Jeremiah reminded the people time and time again to repent from their sins and turn back to God or they would know the wrath of God. You see God is holy and perfect and he has to punish sin. It did not matter what Jeremiah said or did the people would not listen to him. In fact they hated Jeremiah. They did not want to hear the truth, they were like the listeners of WTOP, they wanted to hear what they wanted to hear, truth was the furthest thing from their minds and actions. Instead of looking at what they were doing and turning away from their sins, they turned against Jeremiah as if he was causing all their problems.
The people of God ignored Jeremiah and after years of living in sin and refusing to repent they felt the wrath of God. I think of it more of God removing his hand of protection and provision, more than anything else. In the book of Lamentations Jeremiah is crying out to the Lord. You see sin affects everyone, not just the person who is living in sin. Jeremiah, the one who lived right, was hated, is the same person crying out to God to have mercy on his people. We see in Lamentations chapter 3 that after God disciplines he restores and gives us hope for a bright day.
If you are facing a problem today, no matter what it is or how or who caused it remember there is hope and if you turn to God he can and will restore you. Never feel as if you are going through something that no one understands. God understands and he loves and cares for you. Lean on him, he is your help.
Read Lamentations 3 and learn how bad things can get and how good God is.
Lamentations 3 (New International Version)
1 [a] I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.
14 I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and sated me with gall.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, "My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny a man his rights
before the Most High,
36 to deprive a man of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
39 Why should any living man complain
when punished for his sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42 "We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
43 "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction."
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
50 until the LORD looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
53 They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to be cut off.
55 I called on your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief."
57 You came near when I called you,
and you said, "Do not fear."
58 O Lord, you took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
61 O LORD, you have heard their insults,
all their plots against me-
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.
64 Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
for what their hands have done.
65 Put a veil over their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the LORD.
If you missed President Obama's Oval Office Address you can view it by gong to this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh76oepKFc8&feature=player_embedded#!
Be blessed!
