Jesus’ words to the church of Ephesus are appropriate to America today, “Remember from where you have fallen, and repent” (Revelation 2:5). We all know America is headed in the wrong direction and on so many levels. Our nation certainly needs to heed Jesus’ words to the church at Sardis and “Wake up!” before it is too late (Revelation 3:2).
Knowing the perilous times in which we are living, how then can we have hope when the world’s going all wrong?
In 1996, former Pastor Mike Huckabee ascended to become governor of Arkansas. When the man whom he had immediately succeeded, Bill Clinton, was caught up in a storm of scandal surrounding the infamous Clinton Whitewater affair, Mike Huckabee exhibited calm demeanor and unwavering leadership. First elected to statewide office as Lieutenant Governor in 1993, Huckabee arrived at the capitol to discover that the door to his office had been nailed shut by Clinton operatives. His ability to overcome hostility with grace and good humor endeared him to the people of Arkansas then and all Americans today.
When the world appears to be going all wrong, Mike Huckabee shares a poignant message about how we can still have hope (watch on Christ in Prophecy).
An Abrupt Change of Plans
There are many times in our lives when we find ourselves heading in a particular direction. We think we know where we’re going, and we think we know why, but then everything goes haywire. It’s not just that in our country we are seeing some things going the wrong way; we also see it in our individual lives.
My guess is that there’s not a person alive who has not experienced disappointments, hurts, and even betrayals by people we thought were our friends. Sometimes the hurt comes from a close friend or a family member that you never thought would intentionally hurt you. I’m not talking about the hurts that are unintentional, that are accidental, that just happen and no one knows why they delivered a sharp blow. I’m talking about when people know they’re going after us and they do so intentionally.
Sometimes those wounds can cut so deep and be so harsh. It’s hard to get past them. We all have experienced those moments when we felt things had gone the wrong way in your life. Maybe, deep down, you thought that what happened to you was even intentional. It could be financial, emotional, spiritual—lots of different ways in which you can feel hurt. Sometimes, what we think is going on isn’t really what’s going on at all.
In March of 2002, I was just about to enter my second full term as governor, and I was conducting a trade mission to India. We had some businesses in Arkansas that we were trying to connect with businesses in India. I had a meeting with what was the equivalent of the Speaker of the House in the Indian Parliament. His name was G.M.C. Balayogi. He would be the equivalent of Mike Johnson in our Congress today.
We were to meet in this little village called Bhimavaram in India. We were going to see some work that was being done by some of the people in that village. We were to have dinner and then get on helicopters and fly to another community where we were going to hopefully consummate a business arrangement that would be very good for the people of Arkansas and India as well.
Before we could even start the dinner, Speaker Balayogi got word that an urgent issue had come up in the capitol and that he would be required to leave immediately. I’ve got to tell you, I was just so frustrated, on the brink of anger. Here we’d traveled halfway around the world, and this was supposed to be the centerpiece of the entire trip having this meeting to finalize everything. By him having to abruptly leave, take one of the helicopters, go back to the capitol, and leave me and my team to finish dinner without him, we had to figure out what we do now. Basically, the trip was ruined.
I’ll be honest; it’s frustrating at a time like that. All that preparation gone! In my frustration, disgust, and disappointment, I’m sure I expressed to God how utterly discombobulated I was that this business arrangement wouldn’t happen. I asked Him, “Why, Lord, would this meeting not take place like this?”
Well, we finished our dinner alone, got on a helicopter, and we flew to the next village. Upon landing, we were told some news that turned out to be rather distressing. Speaker Balayogi hod gotten on his helicopter with his team. It was supposed to be the helicopter that he and I were together supposed to fly on to go to the next village after the dinner. Instead of me being on that helicopter with him, I took the second one. We found out that the one that he had taken that I was supposed to be in suffered a mechanical problem and crashed. Everyone on that helicopter, including the Speaker, were all killed. I should have been on that helicopter. You can imagine that, suddenly, the broken-down trade deal became a whole lot less important to me because I got to go home, and I wouldn’t have if I’d traveled with the Speaker.
What Man Means for Evil…
In all of our lives, there are those moments when things go the opposite way. That’s not just true for us in modern times but a history of what God has done in the lives of His chosen.
Genesis 50 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture because it’s about the story of Joseph. Remember how Joseph, as a kid, was a proud little guy and pretty arrogant. He was his father’s favorite. He received a coat of many colors. His brothers resented everything that Jacob did for Joseph because it was so much over the top in terms of favoritism. In every family, there’s always some child, true or not, that the siblings believe, “He or she is the favorite, the pet.” In every family, there’s this feeling that one child is the parents’ favorite. Well, in this case, it was true; Joseph really was the favorite.
Joseph’s brothers resented him so badly that they found an opportunity to sell him off into slavery. They thought he was dead. And, frankly, they didn’t care. They went back and told Jacob, “Your son, he’s dead.” Jacob was so heartbroken that it just about killed him.
Joseph ended up in slavery, and he was a slave for quite some time. Then he got falsely accused of an assault and so ended up in prison. Joseph would have rotted there forever, but he interpreted a dream, and even in prison, the Lord found favor with him. Joseph ended up, through a series of nothing short of miracles, becoming second-in-command to the pharaoh of Egypt.
In the meantime, there’s a famine in the land of Israel. Joseph’s brothers are sent to Egypt to see if they could buy some grain because that was the only way they might be able to survive. So, they go to Egypt to buy grain, and as it turns out, they end up having an audience with a brother they thought was dead, and frankly always hoped that he would be. Now they’re confronted with a brother who not only is alive, but he has the power not just to give them grain, but he has the power to take their lives. And Joseph had every right to do so. It would’ve been a just act. Certainly, in that era, they lived by “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
But, in a remarkable twist, while his brothers were begging for their lives, Joseph said something to them that is so powerful. Verse 18 of Genesis 50 tells the story of how:
“His brothers then came and they threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said. But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children,’ and he reassured them and he spoke kindly to them.”
What they did to him, they intended for harm. But, Joseph, after years of being mellowed out by the tough experiences from being sold into slavery, being falsely imprisoned, and eventually rising up to become the second-in-command of Egypt, he looked upon his brothers differently than he would’ve many years before. So, he said to them, “What you intended for harm, God has used for good, and for the saving of many lives.”
A Detour to Destiny
Sometimes we have to take detours in life, detours that we didn’t plan or expect. But have you ever realized that sometimes our detours are actually our destinations? God can take what we thought were the worst things that ever happened to us, and He uses them for good.
Jeremiah had to take a detour. He prophesied to the people of Israel, but they refused to repent. In Jeremiah 7, God tells them, “Don’t even pray for these people. They’re not worth praying for, and I’m not listening anyway. You can pray, but there’s no point because I’ve already made my decision.” Judah’s cooked, it’s baked, it’s done. God even told Jeremiah in chapter 16, “Don’t marry. There’s no future.” That’s a pretty tough message!
Jonah also had to take a detour. He was told to go to Nineveh. Jonah wasn’t afraid of failure; he was afraid of success!
God told Jonah, “Go to Nineveh and preach repentance to these people.” We all know that Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh and preach repentance, so he boarded a boat and went to Tarsus—the other way—360 degrees in the opposite direction. He didn’t go to Nineveh, not because he was afraid he would fail; rather, he didn’t go to Nineveh because he was afraid he would succeed.
God had said to Jonah, “Go preach repentance.” And he said, “I don’t want to preach repentance. These people might repent. Then I’ll have to love them. I hate these people! I don’t want to go down there, so I ain’t going.” Jonah turns, and he goes the opposite way. But, God gave Jonah a detour—in the belly of a big fish. Now, that’s a detour! He thought he was going one way, but God sent him another.
A detour will help you see things that you never would’ve seen. It’ll take you to places that you never would’ve gone. It will make you go slower than you ever would’ve traveled. “Praise God, a detour,” says no one because none of us are happy about making a change to our plans.
None of us are thrilled when we have to take a detour. But, in our spiritual lives, the detours are often our true destinations because God knows that we would never go willingly and in a straight line. So, He takes us the way to where we don’t have a choice, but in the process, we get to our real destination.
We Know Who Wins
I don’t know what the future holds for America. I just don’t. I can’t tell you. I’d love to tell you that it’s all going to be fine. I am an eternal optimist. I tend to believe that there will be a remnant and a revival. I want to believe that with my whole heart, and I’ll do everything I can to pray for and to seek God’s face so that He would shine again on this great country of ours and bring us back to Him and revive us. That’s my prayer. I want that to happen. But I cannot guarantee that it will.
We could fall as a nation due to our disobedience and our willful rebellion against the holiness of God. He has been so good to us that we should at least serve Him with some level of humility and gratitude. I don’t see it a lot, though.
If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, I do have good news for you. No matter what happens to the culture or to the country, I know what’s going to happen because I did something that if you haven’t done it, you ought to. I actually read the end of the Bible. And, do you know what? We win!
That Christians will win doesn’t mean that America will win because America’s not mentioned in the Bible. I can’t promise you that America will win.
But I can promise you that Israel will win. I would say to the nations that are attacking Israel, “Get out of the way and don’t stand near a window, folks! God will do what He will with His people and His land, and He has made a promise and a commitment to Israel.” I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of that fight, that’s for sure.
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About Dr. Nathan E. Jones:
As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry’s television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.