You shall have no other gods before Me.

We have honored others before You: music, media, and entertainment stars, politicians, those we admire, pets, special places, those we love and have loved. We have put these things first: jobs, reputation, leisure pursuits, goals, wealth, status, and causes. We’ve loved the earth and animals so much, that they became our focus. We worshiped the creation more than the Creator.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

We have erected beautiful cathedrals and church buildings to admire while leaving adoration of You on the threshold. We’ve admired physical fitness until those with great bodies gained attention and acclaim beyond what we give You. We’ve been more concerned with our safety than with proclaiming Your Name. We’ve named a show American Idol and watched it without flinching. We cheered the immunity idol without a thought. We think if we say we idolize someone or something it’s to our credit.

We’ve purchased buddhas we think are cute and toured religious relics the activity of which we thought made us sophisticated. We have tried to fit in to other cultures by covering our face or bowing our head. We’ve exclaimed over these things made of wood and stone, wax and clay, and left little time and energy for admiration of our actual Creator.

You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name.

We’ve carelessly thrown Your Name around like a trinket in speech, or used it in praise without a thought of who You truly are. We barely notice when Your Name is misused. We’ve been more concerned about how the worship team sounds and the songs that we sing than who is being worshiped. We’ve promised to pray and have not prayed. We’ve proclaimed Your power with faithless voices.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, not your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

We’ve become lazy about honor. We use the Sabbath as a day to catch up on work we didn’t do earlier. We shop. We take in entertainment or sports without acknowledging that a special day requires attention on Your creation, not our desires. We are undisciplined in reading Your Word; In praying and drawing ever closer to the One who loves us beyond description; In fasting to diminish our appetites for anything other than You.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

We give honor when it is convenient and does not wear us out. We dismiss old wisdom because it seems out of date. We make many excuses, but are without one that is legitimate.

You shall not murder.

We speak death with our words. We’re harsh with those we don’t like and who we don’t understand. Our criticism tears their spirit and we admit no fault.

We kill infants who aren’t yet formed or who are tiny enough to be at our mercy. We call it abortion and choice, not murder and child sacrifice. We torture those of any age, finally sacrificing them on the alter of satan, himself. We drink the blood and laugh at the sorrow. And if we hear of such horrors, we dismiss them because we don’t want to admit they exist.

You shall not commit adultery.

We watch television and movies that make sexual promiscuity and deviance common and expected. We let it seep into our thinking. We trade one spouse for another and find a way to claim victimhood. We not only approve perversion, but commend it.

You shall not steal.

We take someone else’s ideas, words, or inventions without giving credit, and say they are ours. We seduce the singular affections of another’s friend or family and keep them for our own. We steal from small businesses who have no protection or big businesses because they can’t track it. We accept money from a government who takes it from someone else. In all the slippery ways there are to misuse another’s earnings, we’ve done it. We have taken money and laundered it to increase our own estates. We’ve stolen children from families who are destitute and claimed we would help them. Instead we have sold them over and over for a pervert’s sexual pleasure. We’ve mismanaged money – our own and in our government – and made excuses for both.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

We’ve gossiped. We’ve misled others to make ourselves seem better and our sins seem less. We’ve said someone has done or said something they never did or said. We’ve threatened in order to gain confessions to reach our desired legal result. We’ve plotted and planned and written or leaked or lied or spread information that mislead others. We’ve censored information we didn’t want others to read or know.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

We’ve wanted someone’s success or reputation and allowed it to discolor thankfulness for what we have. We’ve thought about their fortune while dismissing our own, we’ve cared about their lives while missing the goodness around us. We’ve lived lives of ingratitude.

God in Heaven, These and so many more are our sins. We don’t know how you can look on our nation without turning away. And we are laying our sin before You right now. It is filthy. It is despicable. It is stomach-churning. It is tarry and awful. We know we are a hardened wasteland that ingests garbage and doesn’t care. We REPENT. We are so sorry. We want to change.

Please heal. Please pour Your Spirit on us. Purify us from our sin. Purify us inside and out. Our thoughts return to You and You alone can heal us. We ask for Your mercy.

They told us that we should shelter in place;

They told us to wear a mask on our face!

They told us that we could go to the store;

But that we shouldn’t go to church anymore!

Their models were lame;

Their science was faux;

We’re not gonna take this

Farce anymo’!

They told us the future could look pretty dim;

They told us the hospitals were filled to the brim!

But nurses are furloughed and hallways are bare;

And if someone’s sick, they aren’t going there!

Their models were lame;

Their science was faux;

We’re not gonna take this

Farce anymo’!

So take all your charts, your guesses and games

Talk to your friends with important names;

Take your dear rule book and what you have banned;

But stay off our hopes, our dreams, and our land!

Their models were lame;

Their science was faux;

We’re not gonna take this farce anymo’!

No, we’re not gonna take this farce anymo’!

We’re not gonna take this farce anymo’!

Our Heavenly Father,

We come before you as a nation – one nation under God despite what some desire. Yes, this nation is still Yours. And we acknowledge all You’ve done for this nation in your love and might. You influenced the Framers in its design. You’ve called people from many nations to come together with all of their gifts and perspectives and molded us together as one. E pluribus unum. You’ve given us freedom in which art, invention, business, and a multitude of other blessings have thrived; in which hometown parades are enjoyed; in which each one in a family is valued; in which we are free to say what we think regardless of how silly or wise. We know You have protected us individually and as a nation, and we are so very grateful to You.

But we must pray for forgiveness. We’ve become despicable with what we’ve allowed: course speech, perversion, selfishness, cowardice, laziness, gluttony. If there was way to break one of your commandments, we found it and did so or turned a blind eye to keep the peace. Oh Dear Lord, cleanse us. We are sick of sin. We are appalled at wickedness. Drive it out from among us! Purify this nation, we pray.

And now we ask You to heal us. Heal us of this flu. Heal the folks who have it and keep it from the folks who don’t. Heal us, too, of the fear that embraces us just now. Take it away, far away. Descend on us with Your peace and the knowledge of Your presence. If someone spreads fear intentionally, this is what we ask: we ask that every word will produce not fear, but faith; not cowardice, but courage. And we ask that those whose intentions are to destabilize us with fear – we ask that every word they speak will bring fear to them, that every effort to tear down will reduce them to dust. For we are not just sick from a germ. We are sick of lies and we are sick of deception and we are sick of corruption. So as we ask for healing from sickness, we ask for a clean sweep of evil in whatever form it takes. And we give you all the honor and glory.

In Jesus’ Saving Name we pray,

Amen.

I think of all I hold dear;

God and loved ones, nature, more;

Note the path is darker here

Than it’s ever been before.

Ponder in this gloomy place

If I’ll live to see the light;

Or if some effort to erase

Will finally make it ever night.

No, not forever. Only now.

In such confidence I cope;

But this instance will allow

Quiet sadness mixed with hope.

Image: spencer-watson-p0Yupww_SNM-unsplash.jpg

The God who created this beautiful world, the heavens, the water and sky, 
Will surely hold you in the palm of His hand to protect and direct and supply
Your needs and your dreams and will comfort your cares,

And knowing you just as He does,
Give mercy abundantly, strength for the day, and you just need know that He loves.