It is quite clear that as we have tried to deal with the violent hatred of the world  toward us  we have availed nothing.   Not wisdom, not kindness, and no appeasement or diplomacy has stopped the unrelenting hatred and intent to utterly destroy us.   This hatred is so enormous and so unreasonable that the only solution will obviously have to be of almighty proportions; something that only the God who created heaven and earth is big enough to implement.

 It is easy to be distracted by the evil around us.  It is easy to be overwhelmed by it.  It is also very easy to think that these murdering terrorist and their supporters are so much worse than us.  Surely a just and loving God will deliver us from them.  I am sure,  every victim of the Holocaust thought the same thing at one time.

It is a disaster that most of us have not gone to stand on Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal in our understanding.   Yes, on Mt Gerazim God made a solemn and everlasting covenant with Israel to be our God forever, and He promised to bless us with many good things including ¨The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.¨ Deut. 28:7

But on Mt. Ebal God attached a curse to His blessings. The list of the curses and their results are found in Deut. 27-30.   Moses concluded this covenant ceremony by saying, ¨I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, , that both you and your descendants may live;  that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the lenght of you days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your father, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

The choice of life and death, blessing and cursing is ours.  This choice is not made by our standard of what is good, but by God´s standard.   I think here lies perhaps the greatest, fundamental error of our own making.  We each figure out what we think God means  and then we try to stretch Him and His word to fit our ideology.  NO!!!   It doesn´t work like that.  He is God, we must come to Him on His terms, not ours.

We need to repent as a nation.  We need to repent as individuals.  If we are going to survive these days we must each bow down before the God of Israel and confess and forsake every evil thing we know we are guilty of.  When we have finished that list we need to emulate King David, who said,  ¨Look deep into my heart, Lord, search me out, and see if there is anything else there that displeases you.  Let nothing come between you and me.¨



If, or should I say WHEN we do that, God will be free under the terms of His covenant to rise up for us and give us the blessings.