Issue: Calm amidst the storm

Connection: Parts of the Middle East are aflame this morning. Some American cities that heralded themselves as sanctuaries are aflame, too. ‘Protests’ are predicted across certain demographics. Somehow certain people have plenty of time to organize, throw incendiary devices, demolish private property, assault law enforcement officers, and deface buildings and properties. Spray painted lewdness is included, too.

While some of us work a job, or two, or three, and provide for our families, and support our local church, etc. others somehow have time to destroy. ‘Sanctuaries’ smell of incense in some religious communities, but now these so-called sanctuaries are thick with the scents of tear gas instead. Who knows the end? I don’t. What I do sense, however, is that some people’s fuses are getting shorter. To borrow from Austen, sense and sensibility are being jettisoned and replaced with ad hominem attacks, temper tantrums, and violence.

Encouragement: God speaks to this. Will we listen to His word: “Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath. If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is not quiet. Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright” (Pr 29:8-10, ESV).

It’s become cliché nowadays; you see memes and t-shirt slogans and decals with the same message, and it’s this: Stay calm and drive on. As Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us, there is a time “for every matter under heaven.” Let us pray that cooler heads prevail and that the violence will abate. May we be a people who are calm amidst the storm.