Bring on some Old Fashion Ruin

Scripture:
My son, fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
Proverbs 24:21-22

Observation: This wise instruction seems pretty straightforward. To paraphrase for modern thinking and activities ... do not protest against either God, Jesus, or the government, for in response they will attack back and any kind of harm could come upon those haters.

Application: I do believe this proverb is, in fact, that simple and obvious. Even though protesters have some protections in our country, it is still very obvious that participating in protests is often met with some response, and now days so few seem to be completely peaceful. I personally have no desire to ever be part of any protest.

That said, I see two added concepts here. The first is that the protests in question are against the Lord and the government, and ruin will come from both. I would agree that many protests against the government are rooted in a mindset that rejects God and Jesus, and thus many government protests are actually against both the government and God. Second, it says disaster will arise suddenly from them (God and the government), and ruin will come from both, and I wonder what that ruin will look like. Of course, as protests turn ugly, it can look like tear gas and arrests. Sometimes it looks like some deranged other person who commits violence against the gathered crowd.

However, I'm interested in this disaster ... this ruin. I wonder what that will someday look like, when the Lord "shows up" and responds to a protest in such a way that it cannot be explained by any other means than it is the Lord's response to their rejection of him. I don't wish harm on others, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Lord arise suddenly with some old-fashioned 'ruin'.

Prayer: Lord, may my mind be focused on you this day, and the limited energy I have focused on serving you. Amen.