May 28, 2001
God’s Troubled World
We received a communiqué last week regarding an outbreak of fighting once again "on a section along the mountainous border that separates India’s Nagaland state from Burma’s Sagaing region." A joint military campaign by the governments of Burma and India began last week into "an area where dozens of separatist groups fighting against Delhi or Rangoon have been active for nearly 40 years." As a result "at least 300 women and children belonging to the families of the rebels have been trapped in the fighting." So again we pray:
God! This is your day.
I am your child,
Show me your way.
In the midst of my own individual circumstances
This seemingly minor fight is just one of many troubling God’s world today and everyday. Yet we dare to pray to God for guidance for all persons caught up in one of these seemingly irreconcilable conflicts between freedom and constitutional order.
For example, where would we be as a United States if each state was an individual member of the United Nations and more, if each American Indian "nation" within the borders of states sought such independence for itself as well?
So while we too often feel put upon by the national government we realize that most of the time, ascendancy of rule will change in the course of time and the in’s will be voted out and the out’s in. So we realize the greater good fostered by the larger unit. Yet we recognize the legitimate concern of the minority to be heard and to have a place in the rule making that affects them.
So the challenge is always to grab this day and use it, hopefully and humbly, for God and all his other children.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
Past Weeks Thoughts: