Learn From History – We Need Jesus!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(8) Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned, (9) for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. (10) Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?’ (Job 8:8-10)
For some (especially in Western Pennsylvania), many anticipate with glee the prognostication of Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day, or February 2nd of each year, to see whether the pampered groundhog, living in the life of luxury the other days of the year with his ‘wife’ and children (named ‘Sunny’ and ‘Shadow’), will see his shadow to predict six more weeks of winter, or not see his silhouette and predict spring will come early. We can, through the lens of history, determine whether or not we should plan our apparel for the upcoming six or so weeks by the prognosis of a burrowing mammal.
This year, Phil saw his shadow, so we may see six more weeks of winter. Given Phil has a 30% of being right, according the history of his predictions, it is probably a good idea for those up north of I-4 to keep their jackets ready to wear and their shorts and sandals close by just in case. In other words, we should not trust the oversized pampered rodent to determine our actions (but take it in as the fun-filled nostalgic event it is). Here in southwest Florida, we can assume, through the lens of history, it’s going to be between 70 to 80 with a chilly night or two before the summer heat and humidity come blasting in.
History is usually the best prognosticator, even better than ‘Punxsutawney Phil’. Over the course of history, nations rise and fall for often the same reasons in the same patterns; increasing economic and military power, followed by increasing corruption and greed. Other nations want resources another has, the people within and those outside of it begin to fracture and fight (sometimes peacefully, sometimes in violence) and the nation eventually collapses, and the cycle repeats.
History also provides answers and solutions to problems faced today. The border wall rising up on our southern border, to deter illegal immigration, has many ancient examples, some in ‘small-scale’ (walls around cities or castles) and some large-scale (Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, the Great Wall of China). Roman aqueducts and canals serve as the foundational design aspects of today’s water distribution network in the US, and the German Autobahn served as the model of the US Eisenhower Interstate Highway system.
It is also stated biblically, even in some of the earliest writings of the Bible. Job’s friend Bildad is trying to cheer Job up, and in Job 8 Bildad gives him some sound advice (though with Job’s other friends end up having to offer God a sacrifice for misinterpreting God’s Will and Purpose for Job, in Job 42). Bildad in Job 8:8-10 is saying to Job in a nutshell, ‘look back for lessons in our past for our use today to build tomorrow’. Indirectly, Bildad is also telling Job, ‘Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it’. This is good advice; if we look at history, we see cycles. We’ve talked about the ‘Soft Times -> Bad People -> Hard Times -> Good People’ cycle; there is also the cycle of demeaning others throughout history, sometimes with cause and sometimes without, that leads to conflict.
One thing that history repeatedly shows is that God is always there, watching and waiting for us to turn to Him. We as humans always seem to repeat these cycles based on how devoutly we follow and obey God. When we as a people begin to take our eyes off God, the bad times and the segregation of people into groups begin to occur. When the people return to the Lord, they typically come together as well.
Even Josef Stalin recognized this; when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the atheistic USSR reopened the churches for the people to go pray and worship God as a means to reunite the people, persecuted by their own government, toward an invading enemy. Look at how the churches filled in America after 9/11, as people sought God together for protection and in unification against an at-that-time unknown enemy.
We need now to be united, under God, to be ready to face this recurring cycle. We need now to come together and under God speak in His Boldness against those who try to take our eyes off Him, and attempt to undermine our Faith and our liberties. Turn to Jesus, speak out with His Truth, and show the love of Christ to those who don’t know Him. We may never break the cycle of history, but we can smooth out its sine wave by continuing to place our Trust in Him.
Amen