I believe God is in despair over the political behavior of the American people from both sides of the spectrum. Our polarization is sadly undermining us. God realizes that our behavior is leading us into destruction, but thus far there is nothing we are doing to prevent us from collapsing into a cunning autocracy.

Is it better to be persecuted and deeply committed, or to be left alone by the government and the wider society and thus probably to be less committed? As in so many other things, it is what it is. We live in a liberal democracy which does not attack or undermine religion. Other Christians live in nations or regions where their faith is constantly under physical or other forms of attack.

Many people have no qualms about the amount of stuff they have. They have it, and that’s that. Nobody is going to call them to task for it, not even Jesus. But there are more sensitive souls who are faced with ethical quandaries about their stuff. Should they sell a house that is larger than they need and buy one which is more commensurate to their needs? But if they do, will they lose money in the sale of the bigger home and pay through the nose on the purchase of the smaller one? And if so, is that wise; is it prudent? Would God approve their throwing away money? Should they buy a hybrid car in order to use less gasoline, and thus do their very small bit to slow climate change, if in fact the climate is changing? And again, they will have to pay more for the hybrid, and get less for the gas-guzzler. It’s a puzzlement, isn’t it?

What do we do when misfortune befalls us? How do we handle it? Do we immediately go into a decline, and bemoan our fate, or do we try to make the best of it? When the doctor gives us bad news, or we think that the Grim Reaper has arrived at our doorstep or our safe little island in the sea, do we deliberately go into Negative Mode, or do we rely on Positive Mode?

The prophet Isaiah lived in Jerusalem about 750 BCE. He was incensed by judicial miscarriages of justice. Judges were taking bribes, and the law was regularly being subverted. Thus Isaiah quoted God as saying, “I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isa. 1:26). There can be no clearer illustration that judges and justice are theological issues.

The jig is up. The match is over. We emerge victorious in our defeat. He whom we meet face to face, He who bests us in the contest of wits and wills, gives us a whole new beginning to a whole new life. To win against God is to lose; to lose against God is to win. We cannot go forward without pain. We cannot get back into the Promised Land without meeting God on the other side of river. The way from here to there requires preparation and exertion, but ultimately and most of all, it requires submission. We can’t get a new start, a new hope, a new name, unless we are willing to grapple with the One who will not let us go.