You Didn't Build That!

Abigail and Dolley readers I try to stay out of the headline of the day, minutia of the news cycle.  To be involved in the daily grind of outrage, death, and destruction is ultimately unhealthy.  There is nothing edifying about it.  Paul knew what he was talking about when he said, Philippians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. There is very little about the news cycle that fits that criteria. 

That being said, I just can't seem to let Obama's speech in Roanoke pass without comment, as the wife of a struggling entrepreneur, I have to chime in.   "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen."

Marinate on that for a moment, that is flat out Communism.  It's code for, you have no right to the fruit of your labor - collectively, we get it.  I have intimated in my writings for the last few years of the struggle my family and I have gone through, much of it to do with the sacrifices we have chosen to make in pursuit of our own business.

I invented a revolutionary product in the sweltering heat of July in 2010.  For the last 24 months, my husband has worked to bring that product to market.  By doing so, we have sacrificed an income, spent all of our savings, and struggled with the overwhelming stress of economic uncertainty; in pursuit of the dream.  We have done it with no loans, no money, and no help from anyone.

Our story is not unique, it is the story of small business, it is the story of the origins of big business, and the story of America.  It is not surprising that Barack Obama has this view because this is HIS life experience.  The evidence to support this statement is abundant, one must simply look at his legislative record as a State Senator and a US Senator - there is no accomplishment in his WORK to justify his current position.  Hell, he's the most do nothing President we've ever had.  He's golfed more, vacationed more, and worked less than any President in modern times.  His Oval Office work ethic is said to be atrocious, arriving, if at all, after 10am and doing very little.  Why do you think he has all those "czars"?  They do the job that HE is supposed to do.

"You didn't build that, somebody else made that happen."
 
That is not an American worldview.  That is not a Capitalist mentality.  Once again, the Emperor Has No Clothes.

Israel's Faithful Generation

Abigail and Dolley readers I have been thinking about the wilderness lately, probably because metaphorically I am wandering around in it.  Now the wilderness of a middle class American would make most of the rest of the world and previous generations scoff at the ease, but God meets you where you are and it doesn't have to be life or death for it to be serious in your life.  The wilderness can be anything that leaves you anxious, worried, and fearful and is dominated by the fact that you in your own power can not change it.

In the wilderness, we look around and say if God doesn't show up, we are in big trouble.  The wilderness if full of pain.  We as humans hate pain and try to avoid it at all costs.  The wilderness if full of uncertainty.  We like to know where we are going and how we are going to get there.  Your wilderness will be different from mine but regardless of the circumstances, walking in the wilderness is never comfortable.

From our perspective, we would avoid it all together, but from God's that is a different story.  We are never closer to Him than when we are wandering in the desert.  We never rely on him harder than when we are powerless.  We never eat His Word and breath His Spirit more than when we are depending on Him for everything.  Paul writes that we are never stronger through God than when we are weak.  In our weakness, His power is made perfect.  So we should rejoice in our troubles because when we are weak then we are strong.

Consider Israel's greatest generation - Joshua's Israel.  The first generation out of the wilderness.  These are the children that walked through the dry land of the Red Sea and beheld the great miracles of the Exodus.  These are the children born in the desert who grew up on manna and quail.  These are the children who looked up at the cloud of God by day and the pillar of fire by night.  These are the people who the desert stripped fear, unfaithfulness, and murmuring from their hearts.  These mighty warriors did not balk at marching around the walls of Jericho at the order of the Lord.  These mighty men of God operated in His power.  This generation was the only faithful generation of Israelites and they were products of the wilderness.

I encourage you today, if you find yourself in the wilderness consider the good that the Lord is working in your heart.  In spite of your fears, trust the Lord to do a good work in you.  Trust Him to see you through this trial.  Hold on to the hope that we are at our strongest and most faithful when we emerge from the wilderness.  Cast your anxiety upon the Lord, for He loves you.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and with all your mind, lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge the Lord and He will direct your paths.  For we are not given a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  Fear not, for He is with you always, even until the end of the age.