The wicked prowl on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. --- Psalm 12:8
As more details became available about happenings at AIG since the big bailout costing U. S. taxpayers billions of dollars and millions of dollars in bonuses given to persons who made a substantial contribution to the insurance giant’s financial woes, the resulting outrage was like a powerful volcano erupting, spewing lava and ash everywhere.
It is a subject that has dominated the news and the Obama administration being pressured to reveal its involvement or lack thereof through Treasury Secretary, Timothy “Turbo Tax” Geithner. It seems just as some questions are answered by someone in this monster fiasco then more questions are raised.
How to get this thing resolved? There is a “weapon” that has been available down through the centuries of human history, but very few view it as such. It is called prayer and it is an exercise in which one can engage and see some amazing things take place as Almighty God hears and responds to the appeals of His people.
The assumption too long has been that prayer is limited to doing things such as expressing thanksgiving, confessing sin, interceding on behalf of persons in need, and submitting personal concerns. But prayer is a weapon employed by a Christian on the offensive against evil, of which we have a substantial amount in our country and our world at the present time!
Note a statement made in Psalm 141:
Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies. Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness. And let him reprove me; it shall be as excellent oil; let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked. --- Psalm 141:4, 5
Did you notice the last statement? The “weapon” of prayer is deployed against the wicked! So here is the proposal for those who are on praying ground in relationship to God.
Pray in the following way:
- that God will rebuke those guilty of selfishness and greed – a visitation of calamity upon them and their families until they repent and make full restitution and that they will receive no satisfaction whatsoever from those millions unjustly received.
- that God will return upon their heads the fruit of their doings – this is a Biblical term and it works both ways – for those who desire to obey and honor God, there will come blessing and benefit – for those who are defiant, concentrate on themselves and pursue greed, to them will come chaos and eventually disaster of some kind!
- the ideal would be that all would truly repent and make things right, but that is highly unlikely in a time when selfishness and greed, especially at the higher levels in the government and the corporate world have the preeminence.
That same prayer can be applied to the federal government since highly questionable antics with careless and irresponsible use of the tax payers’ money is standard procedure. Whatever you do at this stage, you don’t pray, “God bless….” We’re dealing with a situation that requires desperate action if effective healing is to take place and our nation is be improved as a result. A surgeon doesn’t gently massage a cancerous tumor when he finds it inside a patient’s abdomen -- quickly he grabs his scalpel, cuts it completely out and removes it so the patient will live!
One does have to wonder – if God cut off all who are driven and dominated by selfishness and greed in the corporate world and in government at the state and federal levels, how many would be left?
So pray – God’s solution is always the best in the end of it all!
To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock: do not be silent to me, lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. Do not take me away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts. Give to them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors; give to them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve. Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up. Blessed be the LORD, because He has heard the voice of my supplications! --- Psalm 28:1-6
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. --- James 5:17, 18
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