Daily Verse | Hosea 7:2
But they do not realize
    that I remember all their evil deeds.
Their sins engulf them;
    they are always before me.

Happy Thursday, Broadsiders! Since being beset in ice suggests our Bahamas cruise went off course, won’t you join me for a jog on the Promenade deck to keep warm?

I’m painfully aware that most of my blogging simply breaks down the news of the moment, peppered with disbelief and some sass. What I don’t offer much of is answers, which frustrates me because I often complain to my computer screen that the commentary I’m reading does a great job analyzing and diagnosing the problem, but doesn’t offer any solution.

I’ve discovered that’s hard to do, because we live in a dynamic and ever-changing world, and culture doesn’t change over night. What can you do when one party steals an election? What can you do when one party demonizes your half of the national population? What can you do when one party acts unconstitutionally as a standard practice? When one party seeks to turn us into a socialist state?

There aren’t any easy answers. Nevertheless I’m sometimes asked, “So what do we do?”

My first response is, “Pray.” I think our society as a whole ignores the efficacy of prayer, myself included.

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. (1 Chronicles 16:11)

Most of us are looking for some kind of direct action to take that will effectively slow or stop the infrastructure from any further rot. We want immediate results and prayer requires faith, discipline and patience. But God will not be rushed.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick fix to the situation we find ourselves in. Even if the Orange Savior, Donald J. Trump, were to make a comeback in 2024 (Save America!), he only has one four-year term available. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t help to have him in office again — it most likely would — but we can’t unwind 80 years of decay in just four.

Doug Wilson, whose blog I’ve recommended before, wrote something the other day that I thought would be very helpful for all of us to consider. Seven Ways to Prepare Your Family for What’s Coming is a thoughtful post on some things that Christians (and those who are beginning to see that the foxhole only provides so much protection) can do.

I will briefly list them here with a partial quote from his description of each one. I encourage you to click through to read the entire post. (Please note that although Wilson’s title says “Seven Ways,” I find only six.)

1. Deal With Personal Sin. “Learn to confess your sins to God, honestly and forthrightly. He sees down to the sludge layers at the bottom of your heart anyway, so there is no sense trying to blow sunshine at Him. Simply acknowledge it. Ask Him to deal with it as only He can deal with it. You know He wants to.”
2. Minimize Encumbrances. “In ordinary times, it is good and proper to use up all your available bandwidth with various projects, challenges, commitments, and so on. But now may be the time to streamline … you are freeing up available bandwidth so that you can protect your family more effectively.”
3. Stock Up On the Word. “Now is the time to become serious about storing up the Scriptures in your heart and mind … In addition, you should be a regular, diligent, focused Bible reader.”
4. Meet Regularly With God’s Umasked People to Worship Him. “Ironically, the willingness of countless pastors and elders to shut down worship, restrict numbers coming to worship, require masks (and/or vaccinations) in order to worship, has been a true unveiling.”
5. Do Nothing That Feeds Your Fears. “It would be better to go into a time of trouble with a true evangelical confidence, and no freeze dried food, than to have a basement full of freeze dried food that represented, in a rather tangible way, the sum total of all your fears.”
6. Assume the Posture of Victors. “We should be preparing in our hearts for that glorious moment—after fierce fighting—when we raise our flag on the top of a spiritual Iwo Jima.”

What can we do? Start with these six activities. Add to them prayer, as I mention above. And, as Wilson says in a couple of other posts, “don’t take the bait.”

I would also buy ammo. Really — not kidding. I’ve got some other things in mind that we can do, but those are for another post another time.

For now, consider these seven things a good place to start.