It is a fundamental necessity of civilization that the strong must protect the weak. Whenever the strong neglect protecting the weak, or take harmful advantage of them, then the stronger must be judged harshly. This is true of families and also of governing entities. If the strong harm the weak under their care, this especially worthy of judgment. We saw this graphically in recent events at Penn State.
America is a great nation. It is great because it guarantees basic freedoms and puts in place certain principles that protect its citizens. Whenever its leaders choose to promote self-interest above the good of its citizens, or choose to obey laws only selectively, they no longer deserve to be its leaders. There are, at this time, elected leaders who are ignoring laws with which they disagree.
Most of us wisely have locks on our doors. Without them, we leave ourselves open to lawlessness and injury. The doors and locks of our nation are its laws and the boundaries that protects its citizens, defining who they are and the freedoms they have. We are a nation of immigrants, but we want those who come here to live within the boundaries of law.
Living in Arizona makes one realize the importance of laws and locks, for they are not working here. Every day, a thousand or more people cross into Arizona illegally from Mexico. The locks on our nation's doors are broken, and our elected national leaders are blocking those who are attempting to fix them.
Imagine being told locks are not needed on your doors, or that you should not even close your doors to intruders who would enter your house, and possibly harm you or take your goods. Imagine strangers coming into your home expecting to be fed and clothed, some even telling you they had a right to take your possessions. Imagine being told by your government you it would be better if you gave them your possessions.
Then imagine being considered a terrorist by that government because you owned weapons to protect yourself, or assessed you fines because you tried to keep what was yours. Imagine being threatened with arrest or taken to court because you hired qualified people to uphold laws that your government failed to enforce.
These, my friends, are the realities that produced Arizona's law SB 1070. It was enacted by two thirds of Arizona's citizens to enforce national laws already in place, but which the federal government has neglected to enforce. Arizona is now being sued by that same government elected to protect us.
Our just and loving God says through the prophet in Isaiah 5:18-20, "Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness." Somehow, we Americans must see that we must be protected not only from our enemies, but also from some of our elected leaders.
Because we all are held to the same standard, we all need forgiveness in Jesus. But no one, no matter how high, is above the Law. "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers." (Psalm 1:1)
May God move us to protect the helpless and be protected from those who would harm us.
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