Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill,
I laid me down and slept and awaked, for the Lord sustained me…
Thou, Oh Lord are a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head.
Thou, Oh Lord—Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
I’m sure it won’t take you by surprise when I suggest that little children seem to have an innate sense and trust about all things and values which are innocent and eternal. Yet things change as they grow, as they seem to hear and notice everything else in the changing world around them. We can only hope that what they continue to hear and see are things which would honor and glorify the God Who created them.
My younger Granddaughter, Ellie Kate, demonstrated that sense of innocence and trust in the eternal a few years ago.
We had just finished another day helping our children unpack boxes as part of their move to Gainesville. Mimi had just given Ellie Kate her bath, and was now working her toward bedtime—while Ellie Kate employed as many delaying tactics as possible to forestall the inevitable.
And so as part of that bed-time process, I went into her bedroom to say goodnight, get lots of hugs and kisses, and to pray for her. Always, and as part of my prayers for both Granddaughters, Hannah and Ellie Kate, I pray that God would keep Angels around them to protect them and care for them. They have heard me pray that for as long as they have lived.
As I finished praying—calling forth Angels and all—Ellie Kate looked up at me from her bed and with a confidence born out of security, love, protection and perhaps even through her direct line to God and knowing the things of God which He provides for our lives, she offered these words of assurance to me:
“Gran, don’t worry about me. Take care of yourself. I have Angels around me.”
She believes it. Our elder Granddaughter Hannah believes it. It’s what they’ve heard over and over again, from me, Mimi and their parents, and have now internalized in their approach to life. I leaned back close for some more hugs and kisses. Any reason for that will usually suffice.
Do we still believe? Do we still believe in Angels and other things of God? Or did there come a time when we stopped believing in the promises, assurances and counsel of a God Who will send and surround us with Angels to protect us, and relied on ourselves and others alone? Could any unbelief have begun to creep in when we unwittingly or intentionally chose the ways of the world over God’s ways?
And on that note, when was it that we decided that a journey without rudders and cornerstones anchored in values of eternal and Godly significance was acceptable for our lives, country and world? When was it that we began to live in a country where God was pushed out of our homes, schools, offices and government—without realizing the slippery slope we were stepping upon? Was it when we began to seek the approval and counsel of others and ourselves over the approval of God?
Arnold Toynbee, author of the seminal twelve volume work entitled “A Study of History” once declared that—
“Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today.”
Toynbee died in 1975 and missed the next forty-one years of our increasingly historic slide away from a belief in God, away from a culture which values life, and moving toward a moral abyss. I wonder what he would say today about a civilization which has stood by, since the infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade in 1973, and allowed the destruction of over fifty-four million precious lives under the subterfuge of “choice.”
Precious lives of value—or not? A culture of belief, a culture of life—or not?
Godly change—or not?
“Gran, don’t worry about me. Take care of yourself. I have Angels around me.”
We cannot imagine our world without Ellie Kate and Hannah being in it.
Maybe we should stop looking to others—certainly not to the leaders of our country or world—for direction while seeking to rediscover a sense of eternal and Godly values for our lives and our Nation.
Maybe, instead, we should look once again to the Shield and Lifter of our lives.
And in the meantime, when we struggle at times to find that direction—maybe we should look to the littlest of His creations all around us—to help us reclaim a sense of innocence, of eternal values, and of a change in the direction of our lives which will glorify Him.
Just something to think about today and everyday for the rest of our lives.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2016. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
