Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” — 1 Samuel 8: 4-7 (NKJV)
Eggs will be $12/dozen. Meat shortages coming this August. Well, maybe. Some variation of these predictions will undoubtedly play out, but I want to point out that people who make declarative statements about something happening in the future are often wrong and we should not be too quick to believe what they say…because they could be wrong.
That being said, we cannot entirely discount the warning either, ignoring it to our peril. Pooh-poohing the idea that the situation on the ground is fraught with danger, and refusing to do anything to alleviate what MIGHT come would be as stupid as buying wholesale into the entire gloom and doom mindset.
The times, they are a’changing. With respect to that, there is no question. The halcyon life of the “good, old days” has gone and will not be restored any time soon, maybe never. History does not repeat itself, at least not exactly, and what we knew (became accustomed to and believed to be “normal”) will continue to recede into the dusty past of our rear-view mirror. The future is definitely going to be different and I have no qualms about making such a declarative statement. You can ignore that if you want to. It’s your problem, not mine.
“For some years, I have closely observed food supplies not just in groceries and farmer‘s markets, but also in local commodity distribution (the government buys from large farmers and gives these commodities to schools for their heavily subsidized breakfast/lunch programs, senior citizen centers, and others on government assistance); private, church, and government food pantries, and other government and private assistance programs in my county.”
“The news is grim. The government is now giving back less to the citizens.”
— Southern Catholic Mom
The word, government, shows up five times in the space of these two paragraphs. Perhaps without meaning to (although it may be intended), the author has zeroed in on the reason why we are in our current situation and decries what is happening without ever getting to the root cause of the problem and laying out the solution for getting out of the mess we find ourselves in.
That phrase, “The government is now giving back less to the citizens“, can be taken in at least two ways. The government is not giving back as much as it used to. The government is now taking more from the citizens than they are giving back. It doesn’t matter which, if either, is correct. The good citizens who trusted the government to make their lives better are now on the short end of the stick and their situation is not likely to change any time soon.
Who is to blame? This question must be answered if there is to be any chance of improvement. Of course, virtually everyone will have their own favorite “whipping boy”, someone or some group to point at and ascribe blame to. Democrats. Republicans. Progressives. Liberals. Conservatives. Socialists. Nazis. Transgenders. Trans-national corporations. Whites. Blacks. Russians. Immigrants. Welfare bums. Abortionists. Donald Trump. Bill Gates. And on, and on, and on, and on, and…well, you get the point. Or ought to.
In the end, though, there is only one person to blame for the mess we are in and it is not Joe Biden or Vlad the Putin. No, the culprit lives a little closer to home and you see him (or her) in the mirror every single morning. That’s right. You are to blame. I am to blame. We are to blame. There is no getting around it and the best thing to do is to admit it, change the way we think about government, and get on with the business of living life the way it was meant to be lived–freely and responsibly.
1 Samuel 8 tells the story of how the people of ancient Israel clamored for a king to rule them so that they could be like the neighboring countries. Apparently, they did not appreciate the freedom they already had and decided they would rather place themselves into bondage to a government, all for the purpose of “keeping up with the Joneses”, so to speak.
The prophet, Samuel, did not mince any words about what the king would do to them, but he was flogging a dead horse. They had already made up their minds and nothing he could say would dissuade them, so he gave them a king who proceeded to do everything to the people which they had been warned about. By the time they recognized it and wanted relief, however, it was too late.
“And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” — 1 Samuel 8:18
Your king. The one you chose for yourselves. The one you begged to have. The one who promised to give you everything you wanted so you voted for him. Or her.
We, the People, live in a society in which nearly everything has been brought under the control of government. We are nearly completely dependent on this “king” for our protection, our sustenance, our health, even our very lives. The worst part of it is that the system we have built is the one we have built. Our king, which we chose for ourselves. Exactly the way we wanted it.
And there is no relief. God, no matter how many prayers we utter in anguish and heartache, is not going to hear us because we have not learned yet what it means to worship a false god. We are not likely to until we have been wrung out so there is nothing left to turn to — except God, Who has been there all the time, patiently waiting until we get our heads out of our collective ass and significantly change our ways.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” — 1 John 1:9 (KJV)
If. If we confess our sins. If we do not, then the forgiveness and cleansing will not happen.
How high will the price of eggs have to go before we learn?
Poor Roger's Almanac 
Well said. People do not want responsibility for their own actions, but life doesn’t work like that.
Your words “except God, Who has been there all the time, patiently waiting until we get our heads out of our collective ass and significantly change our ways.” are wonderfully put, pithy and to the point.
Thank you.
One of the consequences of “…getting our heads out of our collective ass…” is that there will be an enormous amount of shit which will have to be wiped out of our eyes so that we can begin to see clearly. With respect to this, we need people who are already there to point the way forward, without being afraid to speak the truth to those around them.
“This is the way. Walk ye in it.”
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