“An angry man stirs up strife, and a
hot-tempered man abounds in transgression” (Proverbs 29:22 NASB).
It seems that in the wake of every shooting in America, many are looking for a scapegoat. They look for someone to blame for these tragedies, and it rarely ends up being the culprit who actually pulled the trigger.
I would submit to you that a call to prayer is an appropriate action at any time, especially during times of difficulty and tragedy. As Abraham Lincoln reminded Americans during the Civil War:
“[I]t
is the duty of nations as well … and to recognize the sublime truth announced
in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are
blessed whose God is the Lord [Psalm 33:12].
But we have forgotten God. We
have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and
enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness
of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom
and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with
unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of
redeeming and preserving grace—too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
We should call on God. We should also make the culprits who pulled the trigger the object of our outrage— they should be the ones on whom we place blame. As God affirms:
“The person who sins will die … the
wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself” (Ezekiel 18:20 NASB).
“For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in
the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB).
We should start blaming the real culprits. Better yet, let’s quit blaming and instead come together and start praying.
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