On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man in history to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Within 2 months, John Landy eclipsed the record by 1.4 seconds. On August 7, 1954, the two met together for a historic race. As they moved into the last lap, Landy held the lead. It looked as if he would win, but as he neared the finish he was haunted by the question, “Where is Bannister?” As he turned to look, Bannister took the lead. Landy later told a Time magazine reporter, “If I hadn’t looked back, I would have won!”

The prophet Zechariah prophesies to the people of Israel to repent, turn to God, and learn from their spiritual fathers. He states in Zechariah 1:6 But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake and take hold of your fathers? So they repented and said, As the Lord of hosts planned and purposed to do to us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so has He dealt with us. What is he talking about? The “words” he refers to regards the predictions the prophets had made if the people of God did not repent, and return to God. Yet, they would not change their thinking. They would not change their lifestyle. They glibly spoke as if they heard the message but continued confident that tomorrow would never come. In other words, they failed to give careful thought examining their own lives in light of the Word of God.

Romans 1:24-25 the Apostle Paul spoke prophetically stating, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin],²⁵ Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).” Over the years preachers, prophets, and pew sitting Christians have quoted T.L. Osborne who stated, “if God doesn’t judge America he needs to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Unfortunately, the truth isn’t that He might judge us. Presently, He is judging us. Just turn on the TV, or computer, tuning into the latest news and you will quickly discover our culture is unravelling. Saul Bellow has captured the spirit of our age well when he said, “But what is the philosophy of this generation? Not God is dead, that was passed long ago. Perhaps it should be stated, “Death is God!”

So what do we do? Assume the position? Bend over, grab your ankles, and kiss your bum goodbye? Absolutely not. The truly called preachers, and sidewalk prophets aren”t just preaching a message of doom and gloom, or some dark fatalism. No! They pray and trust the mercies of God. True prophets pray for the nation and people they are warning. Ezekiel 22:30 states, “And I sought a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.” What does he mean by saying, “..build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land…”? He means He couldn’t find anyone to stand between the sinful, unrepentant hearts of the people of Israel and God’s looming, final judgment. Yet you might protest, “Robert I have tried that and it doesn’t work.” Let me ask a simple question, “When’s the last time you met for corporate prayer at your church?” I dare you to call ten churches and inquire when they have corporate prayer specifically interceding for the nation. Then ask, How many people attend the meeting and pray?

What do we do? Paul gives us a clue in Philippians 1:9-10 stating, ⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best… D.A. Carson in his book, Praying with Paul punches us in the face with enlightening truth when he states, “But as one reads on, it becomes clear that, at least in this prayer, the love for which Paul prays is not an end in itself but a means to an end. Paul tells the Philippians that he prays that their love may increase “so that [they] may be able to discern what is best” (v. 10). So although Paul is here praying that the Philippians’ love may increase, that petition is so tightly cast with a different end, namely, that they may discern and approve what is best, that it is no less fair to say that Paul is praying for what is best, for what is excellent.” ⁵ He continues building his argument stating, “What is immediately clear, however, is that Paul’s prayer spells the death of entrenched mediocrity, of smug self-satisfaction, of contentment with our own excuses. Paul prays for what is excellent.”   Carson adds, “He prays that believers may discern and approve what is best, that is, that they may experientially test and thereby approve what is best.”  

This chapter, and these paragraphs in particular seem to crown Carson’s thesis. Carson correctly diagnosis the issue in the Western church. Metamorphically speaking I would say that the church as a whole has a “heart condition.” Utilizing Carson’s insights and the Apostle Pauls’ prayer we have become prayerless because our love has not “abounded more and more,” (Php. 1:9) and because our love has not “abounded more and more” we do not know how “to discern what is best.” (Php. 1:10) Praying is obviously God’s best in that true prayer is the profoundest expression of faith. We know from Hebrews 11:6 that we cannot truly please God apart from faith.”

How do we address the judgment of God on our nation? You can begin praying with the Apostle Paul that your love, our love, the American church’s love, my love – may abound more and more – that we all might discern what is BEST – namely that we might return to praying corporately.