Today's Scripture
Reading (March 24, 2020): Zephaniah 2
Poet and writer,
Suzy Kassem, makes this comment about division; "When two brothers are busy fighting, an evil man can easily
attack and rob their poor mother. Mankind should always stay united, standing
shoulder to shoulder so evil can never cheat and divide them." She is
right, but the problem in our culture is that it seems to be so easy to divide
us. I recently had a conversation with someone doing a survey for my bank. The
questions, at times, seemed endless, but there were some questions about how
well I would defend, or recommend, my bank to other people. I have to admit
that, while I like my bank, I wasn't going to be forceful when it came to which
bank my friends might want to use. It just wasn't that important an issue for
me. If my friends prefer a Credit Union or one of the other major banking institutions
in the area, I am okay with that. I do have friends that constantly berate me
for my choice of financial institutions, but I don't want to go down that road.
Dividing friends over their choice of a bank doesn't make any sense to me.
In the run-up toward the 2020
election in the United States, there are a couple of critical questions that involve
party unity more than policy or any other factor. The Republicans, under
President Donald Trump, seem unified. A friend commented that, while he cringes
at some things the President does or says, he accepts him as their "guardian
of conservatism." As a political conservative, I disagree. I think that
the President is changing the definition of conservatism into something that I
don't recognize or understand. And so, division is introduced. But the hope of
a second term for President Trump would seem to depend on whether the party can
gather mainline conservatives, who cringe at what the President says and does,
into this understanding that Donald Trump is the guardian of their version of
conservatism. Obtaining that result probably has more to do with the threat to
conservatism they see coming from the other side, than anything that President
Trump does or says.
On the other side political
spectrum, the unity question hovers around the question of whether the left-leaning
supporters of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will support Joe Biden in November.
Only time will reveal the answer, but unless the Democratic Party
enthusiastically supports their leader, with an emphasis on enthusiastically,
they will not beat Donald Trump in the fall. The Democratic Party needs to
place Kassem's comments someplace where they are continually confronted with
the idea. Because if a battle continues to rage within the party, they cannot
win.
Zephaniah makes a similar argument
for Judah. He is not saying that the nation needs to gather together in an
assembly, but rather in purpose. Zephaniah's call is to a country that needs to
repent of its sin, and then stand shoulder to shoulder, in spirit, so that evil
can no longer get a foothold in the community. This vision of national unity was
the only way that evil could be defeated. The picture is the same for us. Evil
thrives when we are unwilling to put our differences behind us and stand
together against whatever it is that is threatening to do us harm.
Zephaniah believed that the nation
had been misled. And that now was the time to recover and protect Judah from any
further harm. Unity was not an option; it was required if the people had any
chance of moving forward in health. The prophet believed that this was
important and that the people needed to hear his voice.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Zephaniah
3
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