"The country's going to pot." No doubt you've heard such sentiments expressed. Perhaps you've even felt that way yourself at times. I know I have. But apparently things have been going south for a long time. Consider the opening of Psalm 12.Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind. They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
Clearly there are times in any people's history when things are going relatively well, and there are times when they are less so. There are times when a people display what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature," and there are times when we display our worst, when we are petty, greedy, self absorbed, and apparently devoid of ethics and morality.
But even if we have reason think our time is a bad one, that does not mean all is lost. I have often been struck by how people of faith can be some of the most pessimistic folks. They can be sure that doom and gloom are just around the corner because of our failings. It's as though they believe that we have the ultimate say.
The psalmist knows better. Despite the pessimistic assessment of a world where "the faithful have disappeared," the psalmist still trusts the God "will rise up," that "the promises of the LORD are promises that are pure."
My own Reformed Tradition has always emphasized the sovereignty of God, but we often seem to forget about it. But when we remember that this is God's world, and God is sovereign over time and history, we can trust that despite very real troubles, God's purposes will be worked out.
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