Today’s Scripture Reading (June 23, 2017):
Isaiah 47
One of the, maybe, unintended outcomes
of the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States is a universal feeling that the United States has
removed themselves from the Western team of nations. Up until now, the United
States has served as the Captain of the nations
in the cultural West. But now, their leader
has resigned. The positive aspect of this abdication is that others are
responding to the need to step up. The natural leaders in Europe of Britain and
Germany are have taken the responsibility to lead the new “United Stateless”
west. But even countries like Canada are taking up the mantle of leadership.
Of course, the self-removal of the United
States will mean that the superpower will no longer influence world policy, at
least not to the extent that they have in the past. The United States will cease to be in a position to shape the
future, something that the nation has committed themselves to ever since the
end of World War II.
But in a more practical, and
immediate, effect of the United States reluctance to be a world player is that
Europe is now more vulnerable to aggression than it has been since the fall of
Nazi Germany in 1945. There is no longer a feeling among the Western nations
that the United States will be part of the multi-national pact to stand together
in protection of each other from those who might want to take advantage of a
nation’s weakness.
At the highest risk are the weakest of
nations who need help just to maintain their own
borders. In time past, the world map was continually being redrawn by powerful nations who would annex the land of
weaker nations. In the West, Nazi Germany
was the last country to try to build an
empire among the weaker nations of Europe
and Western Asia. Russia continues to attempt to redraw the borders of Eastern
Europe, but the United States led Western
Alliance has, in the past, been the force that has guarded the nations that
Russia would like to annex. Now those nations
wonder if there will be anyone who will step up to save them.
It is a poignant phrase that closes this
section of Isaiah – there will be no one that can save you. The message of
Isaiah is clear to any who dared to read his prophecy. If you refuse to rely on
God, if you refuse to accept his salvation, then there is no one who can save you. There will be no earthly power
that can come and rescue you. But the other side of the coin is equally clear.
If you do accept God’s offer of salvation, then you can be sure that he will
not abdicate his responsibility to you. He will come and save you.
Maybe the modern nations need to hear
the words of Isaiah. In all of the questions that surround the future, there
are many things we do not know and many circumstances that we need to fear. But
in the end this is sure – God will come and save you.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 48
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