RANT really not base on Revelation 1:4-20 at all

Rant time: The commentator concludes with one of her examples, "Do you despair of the rulers of this world ever 'getting it right' of dealing responsibly with the horrors of poverty and caring for the environment?"

That makes the assumption that it is the "rulers" responsibility doesn't it? So many assumptions in that comment that I think deserve discussion. What rights do we have that we must demand from our government?

The constitution says we have inalienable rights given by our creator. We demand our government do things it cannot do well. Nor should it.

If we have family that need help why shouldn't we help them? So many people would rather try to pass responsibility on to our government. After all, they say what do we pay taxes for? What indeed.

We should be paying taxes for infrastructure, defense, education, and an efferor to make capitalism a level playing field. All this entitlement stuff is us trying to get out of our own responsibilities.

What is it Paul Harvey used to say, democracy will not work without self discipline. That aphorism is still true today. When we refuse to be respoonsible as a people we make our country more and more impossible to govern.

This Goldman Sachs thing is certainly an example. Assuming they are guilty of something the problem can only be "fixed" after the fact. No law or regulation will really stop something like this from happening again. People need to act responsibly on both sides of the table. Those making these complicated instruments should be honest. And that will not happen 100% of the time.

It rests on us the ones buying these instruments to resist the sales talk which essentially relies on greed. A greedy fool will most likely get taken. Warren Buffet and Louis Rukeyser before him said "stay out of investing in things you do not understand." But we are lazy, impatient, and greedy and we do not listen.

The people defrauding the investor does deserve punishment but there will be new ones. So you must always be wary. Take time to understand the investment. And if it is too complicated stay out. And if it is too good to be true, it probably is.

I have little patience for those decrying the world and people like this new "wiz" who got GS into trouble. If we didn't listen to them they could not be the swindlers they seem to be. We let them because we want to believe.

Then we have this new health care. To me it is funny (sad) listening to the Obama administration complaining about GS when they have just sold us a ponzi scheme much bigger. They are still trying to claim this will be cheaper and it will come less in the long run. Do they really believe this? Don't we have other countries with universal health care to show us it is not true?

Many people think they are getting free or cheaper health care. It can only happen if they take the money from others. It is essentially stealing. But it will be called fees and taxes.

I hear a lot of commercials on the radio proclaiming relief from credit card and mortgage debt. These are debts that you chose to make. Surely you can be responsible and pay them off. These commercials tell you you are innocent and have a right to get some kind of federal bail out money. Even if it is true aren't you just stealing money from fellow citizens?

Did Obama and the congress really pass such a bill? If they did it is not free. It is costing our government a lot of money. Money that they took from productive people in taxes. We have nothing against paying our taxes for legitimate expenses. I think most of think it is not legitimate to spend our money to bail out foolish people who ran up too much debt so they could buy a house they could not afford or a big TV they could not afford.

This rant is too long, if you got this far, God bless you.

Psalm 107

Psalm 107

Read Psalm 107 and meditate on it's meaning for you.

This comes at a great time, after a recent blog about God’s judgment and our responsibility. Two points are filled in well with this psalm. First, four times in the psalm we have this refrain, “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.” (Verses 6, 13,19, 28) There are stories of four groups of people in distress. Sometimes they are in rebellion, sometimes not. But when they cry to God, whatever their situation God hears their cry and delivers them. And no mention is made of their being Israelites or not. One story is about being saved at sea. Israelites were almost never seamen. In our distress as a country let us cry out to the LORD right now.

Then soon after this refrain there is a second repeated verse: “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men.” (verses 8, 15, 21, 31) After our deliverance it is wise to give God thanks. It is appropriate and necessary, for our own sakes to love and extol our God and remember his loving faithfulness when we ask. We need to look back and remember when he has done good things for us.

Secondly this psalm ends with a parable like admonition. Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things. And consider God’s lovingkindness (hesed). The commentator asks the question “In what practical ways are you gladly dependent on the Lord?” This is such a timely personal question for me. I know my dependence on God. But I am not glad about it. Yet I know God wants me to be glad. To put it in these stark words is helpful for me. I can see the problem more clearly. If I cannot gladly be dependent on God then I have not really understood his lovingkindness and faithfulness. And I have not understood in my heart his power and his presence to me. His nature is such that I can gladly be dependent and find that a good thing.

So where are you gladly dependent on God? Yes God wants us to be responsible. Responsibility is a good thing. But none of us is an island unto himself. We can fantasize that it is possible but in our heart of hearts we know it is not true. (I can see with a horror that my children have taken on my fantasy.) We need others and we need God. Do we chafe about it?

The thing is the only one who is entirely faithful is God. God is only one able to be entirely faithful. People cannot be even if they always wanted to be. They have other issues that do not include you. They cannot be always present as God can.

Without using those words I was asking God to help me with a situation last night. Will I trust God in a situation that I have no control over? I asked God to help me in a place of unbelief. This psalm helps me to see the nature of the problem. It boils down to will I trust God gladly. We all have places where we are not in control. Looking for a job after being laid off is like that. Lots of people are afraid they will soon lose their job and they sense a lack of control. Can we take it to God in our distress and gladly depend on God?

I think we should. Perhaps that has been a question for you. Psalm 107 gives four examples. In them we see God saying we should depend on him in all situations, no matter how bad they look. Call on God and give him the sacrifice of praise gladly when he delivers. So: I will cry out to God in my distress.