By the rivers of Babylon

I think many Republicans, conservative, and (possibly) even libertarians are only now coming out of the shock and disappointment of Tuesday's reelection of Obama. 

I know many who are looking to reevaluate and reprioritize, who are planning to do what they can to weather what is likely to be at least a decade (and possibly two or three) of aftershocks from the policies this administration will push through, either by Presidential fiat (no, I'm not going to use "executive order") or regulation, and I'm definitely one of them.

I've seen a lot of articles about "what the Republican Party needs to do now," but they are really just a rehash of four years ago when McCain/Palin lost - and they were as ineffective then as I suspect they will be now. I think the Right is just as deeply divided as America herself is (check out this article by Michael Barone in the New York Post), and the problem is not with the politics or the presentation of policies, but rather with the foundations the politics and policies rest on.

For all that 80% or so of Americans claim Christianity, for all that many of us assert a fondness and respect for Judeo-Christian principles, America is no longer a nation interested in living according to those foundations. We are no longer interested in rewarding personal responsibility, civic duty, mutual respect, true tolerance, diligence, hard work, or earned success. An entitlement attitude has trumped the work ethic, and crisis deferral has become the preferred method of dealing with problems.

Personally, I'm not planning to draw back into my shell like a hermit crab, but I'm also not going to put my heart into politics any more. I'll be involved and aware, certainly, and I'll continue to vote for the best available candidates, but I think that what this election did for me was to hammer in the fact that I'm not living in Zion any longer.

I'm living in Babylon.

This election has made me realize that I've gone down to Egypt for help, and that I've been trusting in horses and chariots, instead of God. I suspect the American church (I should say, rather, "the Church which happens to reside in America") is suffering from the same disease. And so we need to remember that we are but pilgrims in this world, and that it is not our home, it is not our Father's Kingdom.

Well. The Jews were exiled to Persia and Babylon, and eventually dispersed throughout the world - and they've remained the Jews. 

Christians lived in ancient Rome, in Corinth, and are in all the world. They, too, have lived as an unusual people, set apart to glorify God while living in a strange land.

So I need to work on revising my whole identity and begin to realize - and act out - that I'm not an American. First and foremost, I am an undeserving sinner saved by the great grace and mercy of the Sovereign Creator of the Universe, and that my allegiance is to Him above all other people, nations, causes, or desires. 

I am a child of the King - and it's time that I learned what that means.

By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.
We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?

(Psalm 137:1-4, NKJV)

Time to learn how to live in exile, and yet still proclaim the Name and Glory of God my Savior.

 

Comments

[Michael Fletcher]

1.

Very well written, Kat. But...I kinda do miss the leeks and garlic. :-)