Don't Panic

Have you ever seen the movie Chicken Run? It's about these chickens who are trying to break out of Tweety's Chicken Farm because they know that they are all about to be killed and made into a type of fancy pot pie. At one point in the movie something goes wrong with one of their many plans and one chicken yells, "Don't Panic!" there is a pause and then utter chaos breaks loose. Watching the movie, it's funny. In real life it isn't.

There are a lot of things going on in America right now that are downright 'scary'. Many hopes and dreams have fallen into a thousand pieces with the advent of our new president. We question the plans we had for our children under such a heavy tax burden as they will now have to bear. We grieve over the loss of freedoms - like free speech without the threat of retaliation despite the first amendment. I hope you grieve over the fact that the government is now saying anyone who is against abortion, gun control, illegal immigration, who voted for a 3rd party candidate(the last from a memo put out by the governor of Missouri) is a potential terrorist on their home soil despite the fact that we love our country, despite the fact that the very vast majority of us, while not quiet against injustices are peaceful in nature.

I have also read yesterday on Foxnews (I can't find the link at the moment) about a Russian minister stating that Obama would invoke martial law by the end of '09 and by the end of '10, the US would be no more.

I have to admit that after reading all those things could really scare me. It's like the scene in Chicken Run where Fowler yells, "Don't Panic". We are right now in the middle of that pause between his words and the utter chaos from the other chickens. We're at that point that we have to choose between taking a deep breath and facing this with a clear head or just starting to scream incoherently.

So instead of running around like a chicken with my head about to be cut off, I turned to the Lord and asked for some words of comfort. He reminded me of three things.

First, I Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour". Right now, I feel like there is a roaring lion ready to devour anyone or anything which tries to speak against the President and his ways which defy God's word, but I need to remember that it is not the president that is the lion, that Satan is the lion and it is he pulling many of the strings.

Secondly, the Lord brought to mind, Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." It is not the president that we need to battle against. We need to do spiritual battle on a spiritual (not physical) front on our faces before the Lord. We need to take our concerns and our burdens there. We need to go before our loving Heavenly Father and plead our case letting Him bring the victory through changed hearts! God can still change the heart of the president and bring him to repentance before Him. What an incredible thing that would be!

Lastly, the Lord brought to mind the passage in Pilgrim's Progress where Pilgrim is on the road to Palace Beautiful, but he begins to hear lions roaring. He cautiously continues, but the roaring gets louder. It's just when he's about to turn around and run that the porter calls out to him "Do't be scared of the lions! They're on long chains. If you keep to the middle of the path they won't harm you." This was the most comforting thought of all. While the president may be robbing our children of their future, while he may try to silence his opposition (which totally doesn't surprise me after he had reporters removed from his plane when their papers endorsed McCain), while at least one Russia believes he will declare martial law, he is on a chain just like those lions. He can do no more to us than the Lord will allow.

We are not in president Obama's hands. We are in the Lord's hands.

Let these current struggles make us stronger in our faith, believing deeply that we are in a Loving Lord's hands.