The Day Cometh—The Day of the Lord?

What kind of day will Tuesday, November 6, 2018, be for the United States of America?  Will it be the kind of day Malachi (4:1, KJV) proclaimed: “For, Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven….”  Or will it be the kind of day Zachariah (14:1, KJV) announced:  “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.”  Maybe it will be as dreadful as that day described by Isaiah (13:9, KJV): “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Or will the day bring a wee bit of hope for a little while longer as Jesus described his own time:  “I must work the works of Him who sent me, while it is day:  the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4, KJV).

Or shall we see Tuesday, November 6, 2018, as the biblical “Day of the Lord?”  There are many references to "The Day of the Lord” in the scripture so I can’t record all of them.  But the prophet Amos speaks some strong words about it:  “Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, for what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?  It will be darkness and not light…” Maybe the prophet Joel comes closest to saying what kind of day it will be when he calls the Day of the Lord happening  “in the Valley of Decision” (Joel 3:12 NEB).

On the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America, February 26, 1962, I heard (while stationed on the island of Crete), John F. Kennedy say, “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.  For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”  Kennedy believed that our values as Americans would always win out and I believed him then—but I must confess I am a little afraid now. Forty-four percent of the American people value what I find abhorrent, and I’m not sure where the other 56% of the American people are! We are in the Valley of Decision and I do not know what the outcome will be, but I hope it will provide a “check” on the executive branch.  I have prayed fervently for that to happen and I say that without apology. 

The values espoused by Donald Trump and that 44% are not mine and those values are not Christian or Jewish, or Muslim—and surely not American values!  We are our brother and sister’s keeper.  We are called to help them and to care about them.  We are called to love our neighbor (and there isn’t any question about who our neighbor may be).  Fear,  xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, racism, hate-mongering, name-calling,  bullying and psychological projection are cast out by that kind of love (agape).  We face “the day of the Lord,” for “the day cometh” on Tuesday.  We are in “the Valley of Decision” and the decision made can be either more and greater darkness or a small glimmer of light.

The USS Arizona beneath the waters at Pearl Harbor