The Bible instructs God’s people not to fret about the wicked. “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Ps. 27:1-4). This shows very plainly the error of America’s political conservative movement. Fretting permeates politically conservative talk radio, web sites, and social media. These days they are fretting about the border, Biden’s cognitive decline, Kamala Harris, gun control, oil pipelines, wokeness, Russian hackers, violence in the cities, inflation, and the infrastructure bill, among many other things. These are genuine concerns, of course, but fretting is not what the believer is to be doing. The questions for God’s people are, first, what can we do, and second, what should we do. Unsaved political conservatives fret because they have no true wisdom and don’t, therefore, understand the fundamental spiritual realities. They have no power (e.g., no political majority; there was no Moral Majority in the 1980s and there is no Wilkow Majority today). And they have no real hope since they aren’t born again and don’t believe Bible prophecy. Instead of fretting, God’s people, first, are to be trusting God (“Trust in the LORD”). The promises of God are myriad. He changes the times and seasons (Da. 2:21); my times are in His hands (Ps. 31:15); all things work together for good to those who love Him (Ro. 8:28), etc.
Second, God’s people are to be obeying Christ’s Great Commission. After His resurrection, Christ gave the marching orders for this entire age and it is repeated in Scripture five times by way of emphasis (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). It is a very, very big job. It entails preaching the gospel to every soul in every nation, building sound churches, discipling God’s people in “all things,” building the families, training up the children for Christ, discipling youth, educating preachers. When God’s people give their full attention to God’s business they have God’s power. We have been given a spiritual work, and for that business we have mighty spiritual power (2 Co. 10:4-5). If we turn aside to worldly programs, we have no power and we end up fretting.
Third, God’s people are to be praying. Prayer is one of our mighty weapons. It is mentioned at least 550 times in the Bible, 174 times in the New Testament. Christ taught much about prayer (Mt. 5:44; 6:5-15; 9:38; 17:21; 21:22; 26:41; Mr. 13:33; Lu. 11:5-13; 18:1-6). Paul taught something about prayer in practically every epistle. How much are we to pray? “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Eph. 6:18). We are specifically instructed to pray for those who are in authority (1 Ti. 2:1-6). We need to pray more, probably 10 times more in most cases. We need more prayer in private, more prayer in the home, more prayer in the church, more prayer meetings and longer prayer meetings, unhurried prayer meetings.
Fourth, God’s people are to be meditating in God’s Word day and night, and that gives them an entirely different worldview than the unsaved, even than the most conservative and religious unsaved. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3).
(Friday Church News Notes, July 2, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)