Choosing God – The Presidential Prayer Team

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. – Psalm 86:15

A study conducted by Pew Research a year after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, found nearly half of the adult population in the United States was experiencing problems concentrating, sleeping, or dealing with daily issues, and four out of five were depressed. News anchor Katie Couric, after the attack, asked Franklin Graham, “Why would God allow something like that to happen?”

This is not a new question. Augustine of Hippo of the 4^th century asked, “If there is no God, why is there so much good? If there is a God, why is there so much evil?” The Greek philosopher Epicurus questioned why God allows evil. In the Old Testament, Asaph despaired when he saw the wicked prosper (Psalm 73:3). You might wonder, after reading the attributes of God outlined in today’s verse, why doesn’t He just change things? Certainly, He could. However, the foreparents of the human race, Adam and Eve, were given a choice—a meaningful relationship between themselves and God or a course of conduct they had been warned would have eternal consequences. A relationship with God through Jesus Christ— or not— remains the consequential choice for people today.

Some people may blame God, but it is sin that is at the heart of the world’s ills. Jesus can and does change the hearts of people through the power of the Cross and His Holy Spirit. Life would be so much worse without that provision! An article in “Got Questions” says, “Rather than blame God and questioning God on why He does not prevent evil, we should be about the business of proclaiming the cure for evil and its consequences—Jesus Christ!” Choose today who you will serve. Pray for members of Congress to consider the consequences of laws they pass, both temporal and eternal, then choose to follow the course set by God.

Today’s Verse: Psalm 86:15

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Romans 5:12-21

¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ¹⁶And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. ¹⁷For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

¹⁸Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.