Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalms 46: 1-3 (NIV)

“… if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7: 14 (ESV)

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
II Timothy 1: 7 (NLT)

No matter what we face, God remains above all.

No matter what happens—good or evil—God remains above all.

In whatever occurs, God remains above all, to turn to and return to. 

Always.

Yet throughout the history of a country established initially by its founders with a firm faith on God, their Creator, the Supreme Judge of the world, and with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, it seems that as a nation we are spending less time with God as the years pass. 

Research shows that in 1945, seventy-five percent of Americans attended church compared to attendance in some form through 2021 of forty-seven percent. 

A Gallup poll through 2023 reports twenty percent church attendance weekly, forty-one percent one time each month, and fifty-seven percent seldom or never in church.

The late Harvard professor, Clayton Christensen, shared in 2015 that democracy works because citizens are taught values in home and churches of respect for others, decency in treatment of others, and obedience to rules, and more. 

For example, people “volunteer” to stop at red lights and stop signs because they have learned earlier in life that doing that, and more, was the best behavior. He went on to add that “If you take away religion, you can’t hire enough police.”

And then the horrific act of violence at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. One dead, two now in stable condition, and President Trump, the intended target, wounded, with his life spared, some would say by one inch.

Then there is all the tragic news prompting one elected official in the Butler, Pennsylvania area to remark that we appear to have become a “Godless nation.”

Not a good look. Not a good environment for us, or our next generations.

But our God has gone nowhere. We have.

So, it seems simple, and before us in God’s Words—

“… if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7: 14 (ESV)

Michael W. Smith shares this reminder of hope for the days ahead—

“Above all powers, above all kings.
Above all nature and all created things.
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man,
You were here before the world began.
Above all kingdoms, above all thrones.
Above all wonders the world has ever known.
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth,
There’s no way to measure what You’re worth.
Crucified, laid behind a stone.
You lived to die, rejected and alone.
Like a rose trampled on the ground,
You took the fall and thought of me, Above all.”

Perhaps it’s time we realized it is we who have drifted away from what is right, and good, and valued. 

Perhaps it’s time we realized it is we who have drifted from God.

God has gone nowhere. 

He remains our Hope, for us and generations to come.

Now and for eternity. 

He is Above All.

In His Name–Scott

Find a quiet moment and listen to Michael W. Smith share the path to Hope again as he sings “Above All” for us.