Tarfoot

Turning Tragedy into Triumph



Keith Holloway

Today we are a nation that is headed toward tragedy unless we turn tragedy into triumph. I know that this is true, and I'm going to share what scripture says is the solution. Beginning in the book of Jeremiah, God had called the prophet into his service, and Jeremiah had to go and speak to a nation that had largely rejected God. They had reimaged God into a different kind of deity and had brought in false religions and false practices.
God, through Jeremiah, repeatedly called them back to him for 40 years. God told them over and over, “If you don't come back to me, I'll allow your sins to correct you. If you will not be corrected, then a tragedy will befall this nation.”
America is called a Christian nation, but if you've been listening, if you've been watching, even more if you've been discerning by the Holy Spirit according to God's word, you will know that we really are a post-Christian society and that we are in a downward spiral. There are the following three kinds of people in every nation: the rejecters of God, the religious toward God and the relational with God. If those who are relational with God dwindle, a society very quickly gets into a bad spot. So how do we turn tragedy into triumph?
After Israel had rejected the Lord, broken so many commandments, brought all these defiling practices into their society and broken the Father’s heart, “[God] said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to me.’” (Jeremiah 3:7, NKJV).
Isn't that wonderful? God says, “Just acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God. If you will do this, if you will truly confess your sins, if you will come to me with your whole heart, I will heal you.”
Paul captured the right response to this in his writings, with a heart of anguish and repentance. “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25). Today, we have to hear this word of Christ: “Return to me!” This is it. It's simplicity, my friends. All that America has done and is doing right now that is rushing us toward judgment. The word of God says still, “Turn and repent. Return to me.”

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I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4