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The Word's Eye View is a newspaper column written by Two weeks ago I wrote a column quoting another author who submitted some numbers which turned out to be in error. Three individuals responded the following week pointing out the mathematical malfunction. It is not my policy to answer criticisms, but in this case I will make an exception because they were right and deserve an apology. I did run his formula out on my puny calculator, and it appeared to concur with his conclusions. I don’t know if my antiquated machine wigged out on me because of the large amount of zeroes, or I was dyslexic in observing the decimals. In the final analysis I presumed he was correct and went with it. In an effort to demonstrate my appreciation for the correction I will gladly buy lunch for any or all of the respondents if they call me. I am gratified to know that they and others are reading my feeble attempts at communicating truth. The greater lesson in this unintentional misrepresentation is the danger of presumption. The psalmist declared, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” Psalm 19:13 In pondering this passage I could not help but reflect on some of the presumptions of modern America which are of far greater consequences than bad math. Being heavy in heart, the prophet Daniel prayed a prayer of confession for the nation Israel, understanding that their presumptuous behavior had delivered them into desperate circumstances. With this in mind, I submit the following prayer on behalf of our beloved country: Dear Lord, we have indeed presumed upon your bountiful blessings and goodness, believing that our self-righteousness is sufficient to deserve continual prosperity, and our so called morals are high enough to be honored by God. We have taught millions of school children that all the glories of nature came about with no help from you…that mankind was not a noble creature created by an intelligent God but was an accident generated by a huge explosion. We have chosen to treat a living soul like a blob of protoplasm which can be exterminated at any stage of development that suits our political and selfish purposes. Oh God in heaven, we have all too often failed to consult your list of qualifications when we choose our leaders, supposing a charismatic personality capable of silky smooth rhetoric is preferable to good character. We have harkened to the voices of highly esteemed celebrities who have no regard for holiness, presuming that evil is good and good is evil. The middle verse of our Bible says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man,” but we have put a greater confidence in government and politicians as a source of protection and provision than demonstrating reliance upon you. We have persuaded ourselves that human intelligence and accomplishment should be objects of worship in the temple of secular humanism. In a great effort of self justification we have allowed ourselves to be convinced that sin is only a state of mind with no real consequences. We have falsely concluded that there are no absolutes in morality, but only relativity. Heavenly Father, we have tolerated your name being taken in vain and being debased, accompanied with a large volume of evil words projected on viewing screens until it has been deemed socially acceptable. We pay large amounts of money to comedians who think filthy is funny. Our courts are increasingly suggesting that pornography should be unlimited, but the Word of God should be restricted at every possible corner. The same judges have, for all practical purposes, ruled prayer out of any facet of public life. Our attitude has been: “We don’t want you to completely leave us, O God, but please stay on the back of the bus. In the event of another September 11th we may need you to temporarily come forward to offer us some reassurance.” Dear God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, we fearfully acknowledge that the houses of God are primarily left empty Sunday after Sunday, and your day is replaced with unabated recreation as many actually declare with unashamed boldness that all the God they need can be found in the woods or at the lake. We are, dear Lord, becoming a nation of pantheists…please help us. We have discounted your righteousness by substituting shacking up for marriage, calling gay what you label an abomination, and abusing our children by placing them in front of a television all day. This nation has become exceedingly sinful in pursuing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Even those who have not condoned it have, to some degree, tolerated it and therefore, we all share a guilty verdict. Dear Father, if you would revive our hearts and minds toward you and remove from us this great transgression, the sin of presumption, it would be an incredible miracle. We have falsely presumed that you have not noticed our iniquity and have forgotten that “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3 Please accept our confession in the name of our Savior. Amen.
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