The Iron Tonic of Faith in God: Curing the Poison of "Wokeness"
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
Isaiah 30:15
Many of today's contemporary churches are in danger of falling victim to today's social justice movement. Here is why. In an effort to be relevant and compassionate to the culture, they can make the mistake of adding to or replacing the eternal truths of the Gospel with stories and experiences. Stories and experiences don't have to communicate any objective truth; for the goal of stories is to appeal to the emotions - to awaken false feelings of sympathy, compassion, guilt, anger, and shame for the injustice shown to "oppressed victims" in our communities. The current social justice warriors term this awakening as "wokeness".
This "wokeness" appeals to the Christian's sense of justice and compassion. It awakens a false humility that feels compelled to take some action in the form of a "lament". These new social justice warriors will tell the church that the Gospel and preaching are not enough; some other actions or additional tools must be taken and used to right the wrongs of injustice.
And so....they would have none of repentance, rest, quiet faith and trust in God.
And so...we are witnessing the violence, rioting, looting, toppling of statues, lies, and destruction on our streets resulting from...stories.
And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you;
He will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
Isaiah 30:18
God's purpose in the Gospel is not destruction but bringing out His light and blessing to all the nations as well as to His own people. Today we have lost the iron tonic of the belief in God behind every story - including the horrific death of George Floyd. The Bible's view is that God is allowing the devil and sin to do their worst, but behind all the calamities and tragedies He is working out His purpose.
Followers of Christ need to learn to relate everything in their own lives to God, and remember that if things go wrong it is because they must go wrong, but the must is not necessity, it is God. Things unjust or wrong are needful where unjust and wrong things abound.
If we had made the world, would we have made pain or injustice? No, we would have ruled both out. We all pronounce against God and say that pain comes from the devil. The devil knows far too much to disturb his captive souls with pain and injustice when they "are at peace" with him. Pain, physical, moral and spiritual pain is the gateway of life every time. The thing that to us is the ugliest blot on the face of Creation, God makes to be the angel of the revelation of Himself.
We need to become spiritually and biblically grounded in our faith - no longer building our lives on stories and feelings. When our faith in God grows and becomes stronger, the thing that comes out more and more clearly is not so much the fact that we have discerned God, but that we discern His amazing patience with us in our absurd bungling ways of talking about Him. God never hurries up no matter what men say about Him. He goes steadily forward, and bit by bit as we follow the light of the Spirit of God we begin to discern His methods.
For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him. The only place of confidence is personal trust in God and patient waiting for Him. One of the things we as a church have to unlearn is the idea of a false justice that shows itself in the social justice movement - an idea that never came from the Bible - that God is vindictive. Our Lord never spoke from personal vindictiveness; He spoke from a knowledge of the eternal principles of God, which are inescapable and unchangeable. To trust in the goodness of God is not enough; it is not eternal and abiding.
We have to trust God, who is infinitely more than goodness. It is a trust that requires not the squishy, feely passions awakened by stories, but an iron tonic of faith in God.
Insights from Oswald Chambers' notes on Isaiah
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