The Season of Woe

In the history of the Hebrew people, who became known as Jews, a theme arises that would become a means of describing the polarity of their experience and their relationship with God--'woe or weal.'

Weal is a word that denotes a period of great prosperity, happiness, fulfillment, well-being. Woe, of course, is the opposite--a period of poverty, despair, abandonment, and distress.

The ancient Hebrews, according to the Bible, were schooled by God Himself in the simple concept that if they obeyed Him and lived according to the covenant that they themselves had agreed to, then they would be blessed. If, however, they violated that covenant with God, they would suffer the consequences.

Those consequences were dire.

The books of Exodus, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and others depict how Israel paid the price for its disobedience to God. More often than not they were overcome by their enemies, slaughtered, and the survivors carted off into other regions where they lived as slaves. These were the seasons of woe.

Once having been taught a painful lesson, the remaining remnant of the Hebrew nation would repent of its failure to abide by the terms of the covenant, turn back to God, and eventually be restored. It was then they entered into a season of weal.

In many ways America today is firmly held in the grip of a season of woe. Those who have been running the country have failed us in every imaginable way. Economic disaster looms not only for the U.S. but for the entire world. Civil unrest could break forth at any moment. And war looms on the horizon as terrorist states continue to gain power, particularly the Palestinian push at the U.N. for 'statehood,' which they plan this very month.

Are we suffering the consequences of our failure to abide by the covenant?

To be sure, America as a nation never formally entered into a covenant like the one Israel had with God. The Hebrew nation from the start was a theocracy. The U.S. was never envisioned that way.

But, we have a rich heritage of deeply spiritual people who settled here and believed that this nation was a beacon of hope and the fulfillment of a divine promise to give God's people a place of freedom in a world of tyranny.

In time, however, we have gradually allowed that very tyranny to infiltrate the society. And now, it is ever-present with a fury. Our very Constitution is in danger of being totally negated by citizens--Americans--who no longer believe in its precepts. And their chosen politicians are faithfully carrying out their wishes to change this nation from one of freedom to a Marxist, totalitarian vision of centralized control.

There is a heavy price to be paid for allowing this Godless evil to take such a hold over such a large sector of society. And if God's people do not do something post-haste to stop it, then our 'season of woe' will only continue to worsen, resulting in the most ghoulish nightmare this nation has ever witnessed in its history.