Nena Arias | April 25, 2022
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’
Anything more comes from the evil one.”
(Matthew 5:37)
The most powerful ability God has given us is the power of our free will. When it comes to governance, God gives us good government when we deserve it, and He gives us bad government when we deserve that, because we have made that choice. Ultimately, He gives us what we ask for. He gives us what we think we want even if he knows it will not turn out right. He must respect our free will. That is the power of our free will, which means we must pay very careful attention how we use it.
God does not send anyone to hell, and he doesn’t send anyone to heaven that doesn’t want to be there. What we decide to do with the gift of life and forgiveness through our beloved Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ and how closely we follow God’s instruction in the life manual he has given us—the Bible—is how we will be judged.
Government is something no one can get away from no matter the circumstances. We all have rules and structure we choose to live by even if it is our own and even if it is wrong. By the same token, we should strive to choose the best route to get us where we want to go. You will never arrive at a destination if you persist on going in the opposite direction.
When God wants to apply a sanction of correction, he will even use the most unlikely elements to accomplish this purpose.
A clear example from the Bible is when God used a very evil king to correct his people even to the point of putting them under his care and enslavement for 70 years. And believe it or not, God did that to correct his people and to preserve them to save the remnant that wanted to follow his ways. He planned to bring them back from their Babylonian exile in due time after they had learned the error of their ways. Otherwise, through sinning, Israel would have destroyed itself or would have been easily obliterated by its enemies. But God had already given Abraham a promise that through his lineage he would bless all the nations of the world. Genesis 12:1-3: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”
God forewarned Israel of what was coming when he told the prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 1:5-17) that He was going to use the pagan, brutal kingdom of Babylon to punish his people, Israel. The prophet of course was astonished! “How can you use Babylon to punish us,” he asked. “They are more evil than we are!” But it was not a free ride for Babylon. God promised to punish Babylon in the long run. But for that moment, they were the rod of discipline for the Divine purpose of addressing the accumulated prolonged sin of his people in hopes of saving a remnant who would follow Him. The point is that God will give us the government we deserve, even if it is more immoral than we are.
Therefore, we cannot hold out any false hope that we are more righteous than others as a way of escape from retribution for wrongdoing through our choices. God will let others win. In fact, he may cause them to win! This is what we are seeing in America this very moment. And now though Christians, conservatives and true patriots are still the majority in this country, God is allowing those who hate him and the original design of this country to rule over us to see if he can salvage a faithful remnant to rebuild this country if it stands a chance to get back on track. True repentance and turning from our wicked ways works with God every time. God is so merciful that if we acknowledge and repent from our wicked ways, he will relent from destroying us (2 Chronicles 7:12-14).
Our choices before God either make us or break us. That is the power of your free will. Be sure to use it wisely.
