The Perils of Power = Congress

Good morning, it began with someone calling the house at 5:50 a.m. and no answer when I awoke from a deep sleep.  It has been very windy so far but the sun is breaking through the clouds and I’ve been reading on page 1427 of (The Complete Works of O.C.) title Perils of Power.  This thought came to mind;  the perils of power is taking place in our Congress?  Jan and I were having a discussion on this and she thought not, because many of them are not Christian, but as Oswald states, it is God who places a person in a position of honor, as he did Pharaoh.  King Nebuchadnezzar, came into my mind and how God gave him great power till the terrible peril of pride entered his heart, and God hardened his heart and only after seven years of eating grass did God extend grace and bring him back to rule.  It was at this point, we see a man who understood that his power was a gift, and that the God who gave the gift, was more than able to remove it at His will. 

Chambers used this line, “The inevitable result of sin is to destroy the power of knowing it is sin.”  That quote reminded me of what Pastor Joe, the missionary told me as a young Christian, “Sin is akin to darkness, at first it is so dark, but the longer you stay in the darkness your eyes adjust, and before long it is not dark.”  Is that what has happened to the Congress, do they not even know that they are sinning; when they, lie, steal, and break the public trust with the very people who sent them to Congress to represent them?

Just Pondering,

Bob

If you do not have the book “The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers” I am adding the article.

Perils of Power (Jeremiah 23:1-3; Luke 22:24-27)

Temporal power is merely the manifestation of a Divine purpose leaving ample room for the prostitution of that power.  “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”  When once a man is placed in a position of honor under God’s providence and does not maintain a right relationship to God, the very position in which God has put him will harden him away from God.  Power we must have, whether we like it or not, but power is a terrible peril unless the life is rooted in God’s grace.

Bear in mind the distinction between the results of sin and punishment for sin.  Verse 2 refers to the latter – “ . . . behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.”  The inevitable results of sin is to destroy the power of knowing it is sin.  The punishment of sin is that God banishes the sinner from His presence.  What is being forgotten to day is that there is any punishment –“This is simply the result of having made a mistake.”  The suffering that comes to the children of bad people is the inevitable result of sin, not its punishment; punishment is meted out here or hereafter to the parents who may never suffer in this present life.  In this case God interfered with the punishment because they were His people.

“Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away . . .” Beware of the possibility of being faced by God at some time with the lives you have been the cause of being driven out.