Topic: Morale and the Dollar

Introduction: I won’t speak for others, but I’m concerned about this government shutdown. I’ve not been paid for a month now, and I can feel the pinch. When I might before swing by the QT for a Gatorade or stick of beef jerky after PT, well, no more of that. It’s water only and I pack a sandwich.

I jumped online this morning to read the latest news regarding the shutdown. The articles were not encouraging. One article predicted this would be the longest shutdown in American history. I’m a soldier, so I cannot comment on my political leanings. But regardless of one’s political leanings, this is not good for our morale as soldiers. Through the week, I’m working for free. And on drill weekends, I’m working for free. At least so far. So, it gets in your head.

We went over to some friends’ house this weekend for chili and to watch football and found out that firemen and first responders weren’t getting paid either. Congress is still getting paid to do whatever they do each day, but somehow, I as a soldier am not worthy of pay. That’s the message. To borrow a phrase from Hamlet, something’s rotten in the state of Denmark. It’s bad for morale. It’s sunshine and rainbows for some, perhaps. Perhaps there are those out there who say, “Good, let’em go without pay.” Okay, I hear you. But when it comes to your doorstep, you might change your tune. Be careful of pontificating; life has a way of coming back around.

Encouragement for Us: Have others faced this or similar situations before? Yes. I think of the story of Naomi and Ruth from Scripture, set in the 1000s B.C. during the period of the judges. There was a famine in Judah. It was so severe that Naomi and her husband had to flee the region in search of provision. But it got even worse for Naomi. Her husband died. Her sons even died. More losses, in other words. Where was provision going to come from? Naomi, for a season, even grew bitter and perhaps even resentful: “. . . for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your [Ruth’s and Orpah’s] sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me” (Ruth 1:13). See that word there—bitter? That’s the perfect term to capture what many of us are trying not to give in to—bitterness and resentment. We soldiers did not cause the problem, but we are left to suffer the consequences of bureaucrats’ politics. Again, this is not a political screed against any one party or politician. But they’re all still getting paid. Is that cognitive dissonance not apparent to anyone else?

Naomi was in the spiritual valley for quite some time. She thought that the Lord was indeed against her. She felt bitter rather than grateful. She felt like she was the problem, that God was against her. Her situation would eventually change, however, but not until there was a season of privation. Naomi even said, “call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20). That’s a dark place to be, folks.

But here’s where I take encouragement: Naomi’s story did not end there. God was indeed intimately familiar with Naomi’s privation, and He was there, involved, and working towards a better end than Naomi understood. In sum, God was seemingly ‘behind the scene’ working things together for good for those that love and trust Him.