What is going on in our country today?

I just finished a weekend of fun and celebrating as my son and daughter-in-law threw a big birthday party for my youngest grandson who is turning five this week. We had a great time. It was super exciting to watch our grandchildren play with other children and see how they have grown and matured in their social skills and their love for each other. The parents were exhausted at the end and so were we, but everyone agreed it was a great party. What a beautiful retreat from what is going on in our country today. 

Today we turned the TV on and glanced at Facebook and we were brought back to the tragic reality of the broken world we live in. What is going on?

I read my devotion for today. Here are the scriptures:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
1There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
 2a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
 4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9What do workers gain from their toil?
10I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
13That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
14I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. 
 15Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.[b] 

John 16:33
33“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:20
 20Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

So, we are supposed to have times of rejoicing. We are supposed to have times of sorrow. The world will be happy we are sorrowful sometimes. That sounds like right now, doesn't it? But there is more...in all things, "take heart!" for Jesus has overcome this world and our grief will eventually turn to joy. Amen! Now, the real work begins...What does that mean? How does that apply to us? How in this crazy mixed up world do we take heart, what about our grief, what about our joy?

Today, in our country, we are experiencing, what I safely believe to be a continual increase in the racial divide. Blacks are afraid for their lives; they fear they will be stopped by a policeman and killed. Policemen are afraid for their lives. True the data shows that there are more whites killed by policemen than blacks, but it also shows that more blacks are killed in "routine" stops than whites. There are lots of facts out there...all of which can be skewed to support which ever argument you want to make.

We are also experiencing the Black Lives Matter movement. It was originally intended, I believe, to bring attention to the fear blacks feel towards law enforcement...whether you feel that the fear is justified or not. Unfortunately, it has grown to encourage the killing of police officers just because they are police officers. So, now BLM is countered with All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter. 

The media, is provoking and stoking the fires of fear and anger. They love a good story and the more anger they can instill, the more stories they will have. You ask, well aren't they just reporting what is happening? Are they? Or are they selecting what they want us to hear/see for their own agenda. If you disagree with me, tell me the good things that are happening in your area that were reported on the news last night! Was the focus upsetting or joyful news? Aren't there lots of good things happening?

So, what is the answer? Where do we go to find the facts? What are we to do?  Our nation is in a downward spiral, and we don't seem to be able to stop it! 

A woman who goes by the name Shontell wrote this on a blog today in response to a lengthy conversation about the current situation in our country-racism in particular:

"My prayer for this new generation is that they won't be so jaded that it hinders them from stepping up and standing firm. I'll pray for your boys, too. No doubt the enemy meant all of this to breed a little more fear. But no thank you, sir. We fear the Lord alone, so get behind me where you belong." - See more at: http://www.shannanmartinwrites.com/2016/07/dear-white-christian-women.html?m=1#sthash.aCwroMUe.dpuf

...and there I found my answer! How easily I forget to "take heart!" How quickly I forget to stay in God's peace. How maddening that I forget that there will be mourning and gladness and life happening all the time even though I may not be in sync with it. How sad that I forget that Jesus Christ has already overcome this world!

Instead, I, and the rest of my country, have let Satan have the upper hand. We have allowed him to create this division. We have allowed him to create anger amongst races. We have allowed him to turn a blind eye to police injustice when unjustly killing someone. We have allowed him to convince people that killing policemen is okay in retaliation. We have allowed Satan to rule the day with revenge from every side! We have become fearful, because we have allowed Satan's lies, trickery, and deceit to reign.

If we will cling to scripture, pray unceasing, all these fears will not be fears. They will still exist, but they will not be a fear for us, as our focus is on Christ! There would be no need for revenge. There would be no desire to kill...anyone for any reason.

We live in a fallen world and Satan is doing His best to create havoc. He us doing a great job in the states right now. We, all Christians, have to remember that Christ has already won this battle and that we need not be afraid. We should seek God's wisdom in everything, pray unceasing, and tell Satan "get thee behind me!"