If you see the oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them.

Ecclesiastes 5:8  HCSB

The book of Ecclesiastes was written by  Solomon.  Now just a little back story on Solomon.  His father was King David.  When Solomon became king, God asked him what he wanted and Solomon replied, “wisdom”.  Not fortune or fame, not the annihilation of his enemies, but wisdom.  This greatly pleased God and God made Solomon one of the wisest men ever known. In addition to this, God blessed him with great power and wealth as well.

Now Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in 935 B.C.  We are living in the year 2018 A.D.  So this was written about 2,953 years ago.  Solomon also wrote a number of the Proverbs in the book of Proverbs.  I am telling you all this, because at some point, you should probably sit down and read the writings of the wisest man to walk the planet, aside from Jesus, of course. But also, if you read these things, they are timeless.  Don’t take my word for it, read them for yourselves.  See if they don’t sound as though they were written in our current time of corruption and oppression.  He even told us to not be surprised by this.

What our scripture passage is saying here is that there is corruption at every level of government with those at a higher level oppressing and plundering the lower level authorities who are doing the same to their employees and the general public.  Wow!  Kind of makes you think Solomon was looking ahead into our government of today.

One of the main reasons that I don’t watch the news is that it is not only depressing, but so frustrating.  From our local politicians, to our state politicians, to our national politicians there is widespread corruption.  Now, let me stop right here and say that I am pleased to report that I do actually know a few Christian men that are in our political system.  And for them, I am truly grateful.  But by and large most of our politicians are “crooked as snakes” as my grandmother used to say.

And if you watch them on the news when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar, their responses are ridiculous.  Now another thing that is interesting here is that the reasons that men are corrupted have remained the same since the beginning of time.  Money, power, and sex are the main reasons that cause corruption.  The problem with these things is that a little is never enough.

In Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 Solomon points out that no matter how much wealth one has, they only want more.  Now this desire for more, you guessed it, leads to more corruption.  Now you may look at this and say it’s hopeless.  You may say something like, “if you can’t beat them, join them”.  You may feel that you need to get in tight with these corrupt politicians to benefit yourself.  But what does the Bible say about this?

Well, I’m glad you asked.  Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 tells us that we can overcome our frustration with the futility that seems to be our lives these days, by focusing on the goodness of God and His gifts.  Matthew 6:33-34 tells us that we should not worry.  It tells us to focus on God and He will provide all that we need. Ephesians 5:11 tells us to take no part in evil, but to expose it.  1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to avoid every form of evil.

What can we do?  Well, the only choice we have is to vote.  But sadly, many voters are blinded by politicians that claim in one breath to be Christians, but then in the next breath condone sinful behavior.  There’s something wrong with that, just sayin’.  We have a local politician that holds monthly prayer breakfasts.  In a news article, he was condoning undercover agents having sexual acts with prostitutes in order to “make the case”.  I’m not a prosecuting attorney and even I know that this will “break the case”.  Seriously?  Yep, this is how bad it has gotten.  We have politicians that claim to be god fearing Christians, but yet they oppress the poor, line the pockets of their rich cohorts, and pervert justice.  Proverbs 28:5 says that evil men don’t understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.  Well, that explains a lot doesn’t it?

So, again, what do you do?  Focus on God.  Get your mind set on things above.  We are headed to a much better place and this is where we need to focus our attention.  God’s got this.  Give yourself and all this mess over to Him.  I promise you, it will be the best decision you’ve ever made.  The mess that has been made of our local, state and national political system can only be handled by God.  It is way too big for any mere mortal.  So give Him your attention and trust in Him to take care of you through it all.

Have a great day!