You know that gently curving line on the map known as the US-Canadian border? That is known as ‘The 49th Parallel.’ If you extend that line east and west, it cuts through Russia and Northern Europe. Check it out on a ‘flat’ map. There appears to be a massive portion of the earths surface above that line. Understandably so, given that Russia and Canada are the two largest countries in the world. Add Alaska, Greenland, Britain, Scandinavia, and others, and you would think yourself justified in believing that there is a lot of dirt upwards of Forty-nine Degrees North. But it just isn’t so! All of that only makes up 12 percent of the earth’s surface. Things just aren’t as they appear to be. God has blessed us with incredible intelligence. And given the technological progress of man, it has been put to a lot of good us. It is on the moral side of things that man has struggled. Perception has been skewed. Everyone claims the moral high ground by pointing to their perceived majority of power and support. Everyone believes that their ‘right has been made out to be wrong’ and are convinced that the other side is impossible to change. I am reminded of the Prophet Daniel’s reaction to the rewards offed to him by King Belshazzar if he could interpret the writing on the wall (Dan.5). Daniel’s response: “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else.” Belshazzar, king of Babylon, had been too drunk on his own importance for too long. He believed that Babylon the Great was forever. The writing on the wall was the point where politics met the sovereign will of God. Belshazzar refused to see it. Daniel didn’t. He knew that by morning, Darius the Mede would overrun Babylon. And that he did—God had ordained it! Friend, skewed perception is a tool in the devil’s hand. But fear not, it doesn’t work on truth seekers. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn.8:32).
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