Has God heard and answered our prayers in 2009? And will He continue to do so in 2010? Those are good questions to ponder as we celebrate Christmas and the opportunity of a new year.
It is all too easy to fear that God's busy schedule doesn't leave Him time to answer our prayers, or that He doesn't care about our plight. Some might argue that Americans cast their vote a year ago and must live with the results of that decision. Indeed, some even argue that Emperor Obama is the answer to our prayers because his arrival in the Oval Office has forced us to our knees. It's not a bad argument, especially as God has asked us to pray to Him, and has promised us answers: “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3) Yet at the end of 2009, have our prayers have been answered at all?
Look back a year. Patriotic Americans were fearful – with good cause – about what might happen during 2009 and the subsequent years.
The nation has been repeatedly humiliated by a White House occupant who feigns friendship with America's sworn enemies, bows to foreign dictators and insults America's friends and allies. The Israelis, who have been on the receiving end of more than their fair share of Obama's perfidious conduct, not to mention his ill-informed, anti-Jewish rhetoric, have learned how to handle him correctly. They say what needs to be said, and then get on with doing precisely what they were planning on doing anyway, effectively ignoring him. They set an example for all of us. Knowing how to handle things is an answer to prayer.
The rest of the world is now figuring out what discerning Americans had realized a year ago: that the Community Organizer was way out of his depth as a US Senator, and is even more lost occupying the office of president. His major motivation appears to be an insatiable lust for power and control over the lives of ordinary citizens. That's a symptom which deserves treatment, not an attribute which deserves applause.
America's allies have learned to cope without American leadership for the time being. Alas, America's enemies are taking advantage of that void, and there is some resulting damage to America's reputation in the world, but nothing that can't be fixed in the future. World leaders must now be secretly praying for a Republican Congress and a new president. That's an answer to prayer too.
Emperor Obama's insincere, teleprompted bleating, mistakenly described by sycophants as informed eloquence, often features tedious platitudes about ending wars and abolishing nuclear weapons. Now, as in the 1960s, such boilerplate liberal hippie talk is fanciful and idealistic but thoroughly naive, because it ignores the fact that Western leaders have been unable to persuade those who threaten us to lay down their weapons, to end their threats, and to live in peace. That's why the Pentagon houses the Defense Department, not a War Department. Any fool can render us defenseless, but that wouldn't affect the intentions of an enemy aggressor.
It takes a combination of judgement, wisdom, courage and determination to persuade opposing parties to the American viewpoint. That's what has brought tyrants to their knees down the ages, and that's what brought down the Berlin Wall twenty years ago.
That delicate but necessary balance is made all the more difficult when the current White House occupant possesses none of those qualities, prefers to spend his time celebrating his dog's birthday, playing golf and saving the planet from global warming, evidence of which is highly dubious anyway, instead of defending the nation from its enemies. He seems to devote more energy to fighting Fox News than to fighting Al Qaeda. It is even more challenging because he is, at best, lukewarm about the United States. Sensible people, including most US military commanders, have understood all this, operate accordingly, and speak their mind when possible. And those are more answers to prayer.
A year ago, Emperor Obama seemed to be the answer to everything – or so he thought. His insufferable arrogance was highlighted by his blank slate of achievement. In his years of college, editing the Harvard Law Review, as a community organizer, as a State Senator and as a US Senator, he essentially accomplished absolutely nothing. The millions of unemployed Americans must be wondering if and when he plans to deliver on his far-fetched campaign promises to bring them “hope” and “change”.
Yet he saw himself almost as a deity. Future generations may look at the 2008 election and wonder how this emptiest of empty suits came to be elected and why the electorate was so utterly unsuspecting of someone as totally inexperienced as Obama, whose dubious associates should have given them additional cause for concern.
As Obama said of himself: "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." It was all vainglorious nonsense, of course. As Irwin Stelzer wrote in the London Daily Telegraph at the time: "Moses made the waters recede, but he had help." Obama saw no need of any Divine assistance. Rational people sighed and observed, though the media and half the population were willingly gullible. A year later, his approval ratings are in free-fall. A recent poll by Public Policy Polling shows that almost half the country wants President Bush back. And some in the media have ceased their constant adulation as reality has set in. A year ago, he built a massive cult-like following of the weak-kneed masses. Now they are awakening. And that's another answer to prayer.
On June 9, 2008, Senator Barack Obama said this: “George Bush's policies have taken us from a projected $5.6 trillion dollar surplus at the end of the Clinton Administration to massive deficits and nearly four trillion dollars in new debt today. We were promised a fiscal conservative. Instead, we got the most fiscally irresponsible administration in history .... we can't afford four more years of skewed priorities that give us nothing but record debt.” This week the Democrats increased the legal debt limit from $12.1 trillion to $13.9 trillion, so they don't have to revisit the issue during the election year of 2010. While the debt is obviously very bad news for the American people, at least the appalling hypocrisy has become evident, and presidential candidates can start planning fiscal measures to reduce the debt. And that's an answer to prayer.
Let's not forget ACORN, the dreaded organization that specializes in vote fraud. A year ago, it was feared that they would corrupt all future elections and intimidate voters as they surely did in 2008. Thanks to the good journalistic work of Fox News, ACORN's criminal activities have been exposed. Humorous columnist Doug Giles wrote recently of ACORN's desire to change its name: “I hear ACORN is going to fly under the new moniker “Societal Assistance Through Action Now,” or “SATAN” for short.” That does sound like an accurate acronym. ACORN is currently battling to keep the federal funding it should never have been voted. If it loses that funding, it could well be headed to bankruptcy as well. Surely that's an answer to prayer and a cause for rejoicing too!
The mood of the country has changed dramatically during 2009. Republicans are poised for a good election next November. We can pray for a Congress to be elected in 2010 which might put a brake on Emperor Obama's plans to restructure the American economy as a socialist one, to establish a government-run health care system, and to consolidate more and more power in the hands of the federal government. Efforts to resist him will need a lot more work, but 2010 provides an opportunity to take significant steps, and that's another answer to prayer.
Even more surprising has been the emergence of the Tea Party movement, almost two million of whose supporters descended on Washington DC in September. A recent poll had some shocking news for the two established parties: Tea Party candidates would beat Republicans into third place if an election were held today. This may be the start of a long-awaited realignment of political parties which could finally give Americans the opportunity to vote for a conservative government. Again, much work remains to be done, but the initial steps have been taken, and that's also an answer to prayer.
If the polls contained a surprise for Tea Party enthusiasts, there was an even bigger one for Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. A recent Rasmussen poll shows that 74% of Republican voters say their party’s representatives in Congress have lost touch with their values, but 59% of Republican voters say Mrs. Palin shares their values. Mrs. Palin is a solid Christian, who, having raised a family, knows what she believes and has said so in a refreshingly honest manner. Other polls show her running almost even with Emperor Obama. Given the dynamics of polling, she would probably be swept into the Oval Office, were an election to be held today. A year ago, her future seemed uncertain. Since then, the media have enjoyed writing her off. But her book “Going Rogue” has sold over a million copies in its first few weeks of release. And these poll numbers suggest that the public is looking to her for leadership. No void remains for very long. Sometimes, evil forces rush in to fill it, but we are fortunate that good people are standing by and are prepared to help us. And that is another answer to prayer.
God is always faithful to His people. As a well-loved hymn puts it: “Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.” So God will continue to answer our prayers. “By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth.” (Psalm 65:5)
As we head into 2010, while there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic, and we do not underestimate them, there are also plenty of reasons for optimism, plenty of good reasons why the United States of America is still the greatest country in the world, and plenty of good reasons to believe that God is still in control. Has He orchestrated events to drive us to knees? Maybe so, but we can know this: every prayer is answered, in His way, in His timing. That wonderful and everlasting reassurance, that knowledge and trust of our Heavenly Father, that peace which passes all understanding, is almost certainly our best gift this Christmas.
Steve
Myers © 2009 |
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