Pitching a hissey fit

I completely forget to mention this, even though I see at least one person found it. At the end of each post is a few check boxes, so you can leave your opinion without having to comment. It only takes a second to click on a box or two. I am encouraged and blessed by hearing your feedback, so please take a moment, if your not already and check a box on every post to let me know whether you enjoyed the post or not. You won't hurt my feelings if you tell me I am completely off base, that will just tell me to go back and study that passage some more, which will make me better at what I am doing. But, if you mark on of the other boxes, it will let me know I am listening to what God is telling me. Thanks.

This morning I want to look at how ancient Israel resembles America today. Turn to Zech. 7 starting with verse 8, "And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying" First thing we see is the word of the LORD, what follows is a commandment of God. (vs9) "Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother" Who is your brother? Every person you have contact with is your brother. (vs10) "And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart". In other words treat everyone you meet with the love of God, what is so hard about that?
But look at verse 11, "But they refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they should not hear. Yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets; therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts."
Those Israelites sound like most Christians today, not to mention the Atheist and such. Refusing to listen to the word of the LORD, preferring instead to be coddled and cuddled, by those preaching the goodness of God, but the the righteousness of God. There are those that go to church every Sunday and sit under the preaching of the word, and yet their minds are somewhere else, so they leave the church having not heard a word the preacher said. So they spend their week no better than they started it, and then repeat the whole thing the next week, and the next. Of course there or those that just flat out refuse to even acknowledge that God exist.
How many times have you seen a teenager pitching a fit, when mom, or dad is trying to talk to them, places their hand on the kids shoulder, possibly trying to hug them, and the child jerks away, and sticks their fingers in their ears, and starts saying lalalalalalala? That is the picture God painted of the Israelites, and it fits Christians today so well.
Now turn over to Mal. 2:17 "Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?"
This follows right along with our other text, how many preachers are preaching something other than the gospel, and yet they have one of these mega-churches? How many "Christians", that live like the devil all week, yet show up for church on Sunday, and talk about how wicked the other church members are?
Now I want to look at the last statement just a moment, "Where is the God of judgment?". This is not the cry of righteous people looking for God to avenge His chosen people. This is the sarcastic statement of evil people making fun of those that still believed in the LORD God Jehovah. They are asking, "If God exist why hasn't He done something to the enemies (without, and within) of Israel?". It is not for us to know when, or how God will work, we are to believe that He is going to, and wait patiently for Him to move among us.
Go back to the last statement in Zech., "therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts." If the church in America does not wake up, and sit up, and take notice, and start to obey the word of the LORD, there will be a serious price to pay. And I don't think that day if very far off.
We need to be praying daily for His mercy and grace to fall on America. We need to be praying for those true believers that have left His path to return, and for conviction and burden to fall on all Christians. That is the only hope this country has. I may be wrong but I believe that the current state of the church in America, and the country in general is Biblical. I believe that the country must go down this path in order to make way for the events that will signal His return. So this is a mixed feeling I have toward the current state. I want to pray for the church, and the country to return to it's previous glory, and yet I am so looking forward to His return, I want things to get worse even quicker, so that glorious day of His reappearing will get here. However, I know that we are to pray for the healing of the church, while looking forward to that day, even though the two are opposites.