PROVIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal shared some interesting insights recently that really caught my attention. Think about the fact that, “In the past, when the world was in crisis there would be a ‘cluster of geniuses,’ men and women of the hour, that were in place and able to deal with the situations which had arisen, leading the world through the time of stress. 

In the initial formation of America, there were men like Washington, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, Monroe and others. At the time of World War II, there was Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Charles De Gaulle, the President of France. In the 1980’s we saw John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel lead the world through crisis.”

They were historic figures needed in historic circumstances. We are living in such a time now.

Let me tell you about someone who received an unexpected gift after years of disappointment, of hoping, waiting, and perhaps times of giving up. I am talking about a story that unfolds in Luke 1. It is the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were both righteous people. They both walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord…blameless! Yet, they had no child! Elizabeth was barren and now they were both well advanced in years!

Christ the Solid RockWe are living in times when many of the “norms” or “accepted ways of conduct” we have known in the past have changed, some radically so.  “Christian morality is being ushered out of American social structures and off the cultural main stage, leaving a vacuum in its place – and the broader culture is attempting to fill the void.  Barna reveals growing concern about the moral condition of the nation, even as many American adults admit they are uncertain about how to determine right from wrong.  Do Christians see truth and morality in radically different ways from the broader public, or are they equally influenced by the growing tide of secularism and religious skepticism?”  (Research Releases in Culture & Media – May 25, 2016)