Foolish Hearts Darkened

The world may be increasingly becoming a dark place but even a little light reveals the Creator.

Friday, March 3, 2023

By Hannah Meador

Reprinted from The Stand

Do you ever have random verses or passages stuck in your head? I sure do!

Sometimes they are short and sweet. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Other times, I hear encouraging words of grace such as those found in Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Yes, Scripture is good for the soul. It makes my heart want to sing praises to my Maker! But occasionally, He’ll send me something more profound than I want to think about on my morning drive to work or at night when I’m trying to rest. And, of course, those are the times I know I’m supposed to listen intently.

That very thing happened earlier this week.

Our week down South has been a pretty soggy one. Last night, we even had tornado watches and warnings! However, before the rain started, the Lord blessed us with a beautiful night. Not a cloud was in the sky, and the temperature was unusually comfortable for late February.

That night, my father-in-law sent a picture of his view of the Mississippi night sky in our family group text. In it, he made mention of two extra bright sparkles in the sky. It was no other than Venus and Jupiter! When I looked to heaven, I saw the two planets twinkling amid the black sky.

The sight made me grin. I was beautifully amazed. I could see one of God’s designs from my back porch miles away. To be exact, NASA claims that when Jupiter is closest to Earth, it is 367 million miles away. At its furthest, the planet is 600 million miles away from us. Nevertheless, the Lord still lets us see His beautiful creations.

Creation has always fascinated me. Everything we see and experience is something the Lord of the Universe intricately designed. I’ve never understood how someone could see the mountains, ocean, or even themselves and think it could be by happenstance.

Without fail, as I stared at those planets, the Lord brought a long passage to mind. Romans 1:18-20 says:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

The harder I thought, the more amazed I became. Through creation and our being, the Lord has made it clear to us Who He is. When we look at His handiwork, we really are without excuse to praise Him. Since my Bible was already out, I decided to keep reading the passage. Verses 21-25 say:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Does this sound familiar in any shape, form, or fashion? Tell me. Was your first thought also America’s culture today?

Parents are allowing the mutilation of their children’s bodies.

Men are marrying men.

Scientists are claiming that the truth is a lie.

Women are willingly killing their babies before their first breath.

Our nation doesn’t want to worship the Creator anymore. Instead, they want to live, grow, and celebrate sin of every kind! Oh, and if you think differently from this? They will try their hardest to shove it down your throat too. It isn’t enough until the whole world believes their lies.

So, why haven’t they succeeded? Why hasn’t the whole world caved to these thoughts and sinful ideas?

Hell can’t stop the church.

Paul wrote these passages long before 2023. So that means that even though they were experiencing similar situations back in the day, the gospel was still shared. The truth still prevailed in an age of darkness. And I believe the gospel’s truth will prevail even in today’s topsy-turvy world. But for this to happen, we must stand up for our beliefs. Now more than ever!

Church, now is the time. Share the truth!

We can make a difference in our culture by declaring the truth over the lies culture wants to spread. We can be a voice for the voiceless and truth ringing in the wind. But if we don’t, who will?