"Passionately Seeking & Speaking the Love of Jesus Christ" Dateline: Phillips West "Send lawyers, guns and money, they'll get me out of this"- Warren Zevon. I remember back around two decades ago, I was working as nothing more than a two-bit con man. At that time, the ringleader of the "business" would frequently quote that lyric whenever we found ourselves in a tight spot as the proverbial walls of justice closed in. I reckon that the song is still recited in the backseat of police cars, county jail cells, and neighborhood pubs. There is no doubt Warren Zevon struck a cultural chord when he released the songs back in 1978, and the reverberation of that chord will ring on for many years to come. The notion that lawyers guns and money will bring deliverance seems fitting for the con-man, criminal, and conspirator but does it seem fitting for a Christian? As I page through my well worn Hymnal, I find songs titled "The Battle Belongs to the Lord," "The Solid Rock," and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." At our church we sing the song of Miriam and Moses, "Sing to God what a victory, He pitched horse and rider into the sea" and Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" Back to the Hymnal, I cannot find a single song about a lawyer, gun, or money... When I read the Bible I find the stories of those who trusted God almighty above any worldly decree or might (military and monetary)- Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Job, Stephen, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who told Peter to put away his sword as trusted His heavenly Father even unto death on the cross. Unfortunately, today God's people seem to be picking up their swords again as they run towards the "security" of lawyers guns and money. As a result, the causes of politics and protection have infiltrated the hearts of too many of us and have begun to occupy the deep recesses of our minds in which God alone should dwell. Instead of trusting in the absolute certainties we find in YAHWEH, we have turned to shifting possibilities with the ways of the world. I still believe we can trust God above anything, and I mean anything, this world can throw at us. Be the threat legal or physical- God is bigger and we can count on Him! Folks, there may be many out there right now whose "life-songs" are proudly singing "Lawyers, guns, and money" but I ask you to join me in making ours, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." |
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
News Hope Weekly 1/23/13
