I’m sure everyone has been shocked at the riots in many UK cities this week.  The thing that strikes me most is that they came so suddenly and unexpectedly.  Everyone is searching for the reasons and answers.  When something like this is so out of the ordinary I always look to see what is going on at a deeper level.  It is like the burning bush that caught Moses attention.  Moses did not just pass by but turned aside to see what this was all about.

The true causes and answers are really pretty obvious but will be totally unacceptable to the nation.  This nation has utterly turned her back to God.  From top to bottom there is utter godlessness.  Hosea 4:1-3 catches the heart of the matter:

“Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away.” Hosea 4:1-3

A few days ago the governor of Texas called for a day of fasting and prayer for America.  About 30,000 came together to cry out to God for forgiveness and pray for the nation.  I happened to see an article in the Guardian about it.  Little was I surprised that it was totally and utterly cynical.  That cynicism runs deep in the veins of the British culture toward anything that is truly godly.

Family life has utterly broken down and we have raised a generation of rebels.  And guess what rebels do?   These young people are utterly rebels.  But where were the dads and mum’s?  Most have grown up in fatherless homes with no love.  They no nothing of a normal family life, nothing of love, nothing of discipline, nothing of a healthy and proper upbringing. G. Campbell Morgan’s commentary on the book of Hosea says this:  “Troubling as a result of sin is inevitable.  It is the inevitable law of God.  If sin brought no penalty in its track what would happen?  Utter destruction.  The troubling opens the door of hope.”  Yes, the valley of Achor as a door of hope.

The only answer is to repent and return to God’s ways.  Unfortunately God’s ways are not on the political agenda.  Anyone putting forth this word would be mocked by the secular voices.   Great sin, over many years, has been sown and now we are reaping a harvest.

The only hope is for the church to stand in the gap and pray.  Perhaps there will be a miracle.  I pray that God will remember mercy in the midst of this judgment and many will be saved and pulled out of the fire.

I saw an interview on BBC News with a man about 30 and a 15 year old boy.  They were awesome.  He was a youth worker, probably a Christian but not so stated.  The young man you awesome too.  He was brought out of the fire.  Many there be thousands more.