A couple of weeks ago my blog was hacked. They changed my login and password to lock me out and after a couple of days my blog went away and became another language… Japanese, I think. Now I know where they get the term “hacked”, because I was pretty hacked. After a few days and thanks to the incredible tech support at Host Gator, I am back up and running and I haven’t lost any content.
Our world spends multiple billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars every year on security and recovery from crime… no, I didn’t look this up, but you are welcome to. Between physical security (door locks, security cameras, etc.), cyber security (fraud protection, virus protection and recovery, the small amount it cost me to recover this site) and law enforcement (local police, FBI, private security) … you get the idea. Lots and lots of money spent on security. Why? Because there are bad people out there who’s goal in life is to harm other people. I read posts on social media about how the government should do more to protect us and we need more regulations.
Even beyond our security we, as Americans, have began to look to the government more and more for protection and security. For help and recovery. We have become reliant on our government as our savior. There are a few problems with that. On a political point of view, the more we rely on our government for help, the less freedom we have. And the political climate changes every few years and so will the laws and political direction of our nation. From a spiritual standpoint, we have traded in the one true savior for a physical “king”. Someone we can see and touch.. ok, maybe not touch unless you want to deal with another layer of security we pay for.
My point is that we have invested trillions of dollars and countless hours of our lives in security and protection and the recovering from the damage of crimes. We, as a society, have begun to look more and more to our government leaders to be our savior. Where has this gotten us? It has led to a more Godless society with the need for even more security and a nation more dependent on government than on God.
Many seek an audience with a ruler,
but it is from the Lord that one gets justice.
– Proverbs 29: 26
We can cry out to our government for help all day, but the only one that can really fix this is God. Our true savior Jesus Christ, the one who can change hearts. We have become focused on the wrong thing… on the wrong solution.
Comment below and let me know your thoughts.
I was sorry to hear that your blog got hacked. Cyber crime is one of those that ‘hacks’ me off more than most others, because I feel most vulnerable there. Plus, I think those who commit it are cowards more than most.
But, before I begin to rant too much, your blog point about reliance on the government reminded me of a passage I recently reread in my daily devotional, 1 Samuel 8, which relates the account of the Israelites demanding a king to rule over them. Samuel was told by God that it was not Samuel they were rejecting; but Him, and that he should anoint them a king that God would show to Samuel. Samuel warned the people what the cost would be. They didn’t listen.
It was a disaster.
Today, more and more people are doing exactly as you have said, and place their trust in government instead of God. We see the result. More and more people enslaved by entitlement programs like welfare programs that put families into a cycle of dependence instead of giving them the help they need (in a temporary rough patch) to become free and self sustaining, robbing them of their self respect.
But the problem is not ALL the fault of the “government” either. We have to remember, that this nation is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, so we each bear a measure of responsibility in as much as ‘how’ we vote, and when we ‘fail’ to vote. But beyond that, most of the programs that have negative effects because they a bungled by bureaucrats, are duties that have been neglected by families, and also by the church.
Let us take back the burden of responsibility for those areas that should be the shouldered by parents for children, by children for parents, by the church for the communities in which it lives, and by individuals who are blessed by God with the ability to help those around them. Then we will be truly free and happy once again, able to acknowledge Who is truly our King.
Thanks for the comment. That is exactly the passage I was thinking about when I wrote about trading for a physical “king”. I have often said that when we complain about government, we are really complaining about ourselves. After all, we are the ones that put those people in office. Politics is an important part of who we are as a nation, but the choices of who we elect is an indication of the true spiritual health of our nation… which seems to be pretty poor right now.