Fighting in Our Streets and God

[414 words] Nations reap what they sow just as individuals do. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:17). This happens partly because rebellion against God is by nature self-destructive and partly because God providentially intervenes to chastise evil societies. In terms of the latter, one of the most common forms of divine punishment is war. The Lord unleashed the Assyrians on Israel, the Babylonians on Judah, and then the Medes on Babylon. But the chastening rod in God’s hand is not always a foreign army. Sometimes it is division and fighting within. We call it “civil war.” For thousands of years nation after nation has experienced it. The book of Isaiah reveals that God has a hand in some of these conflicts. The prophet pictured a complete breakdown of law and order in Judah in chapter three. The result was anarchy….