Lies. They seem to have the upper hand. Truths keep fighting to overcome the lies, but as soon as they surface to be heard and seen, more and more lies are dumped, smothering the truths.

People deliver the lies, so those people are guilty.

People choose to believe the lies, so those people are guilty also.

What could possibly be good about this time in America?

You have to back up from the nitty gritty details to see it. You have to rise above the trees to see the forest. You have to remove the masks to see who people really are.

What good could there be in discovering that the hearts of many people are horrible? What good could there be to learn that those people you trusted and believed to be good, are not?

The pain of discovery is real. Disheartening. Discouraging. Devastating. Wave after wave of people in your life are falling away, as people’s hearts are exposed.

They choose the lies. They adore the lies. They idolize the liars.

They defend abusers. They side with destroyers. The more their power, the stronger their bond of allegiance to them.

They applaud dehumanization and disposal of people. They shake their fists and raise angry voices to anyone who objects.

They choose injustice.

They despise mercy for those they choose to hate.

What could possibly be good about this time in America?

They have found their tribe. Their comrades come out of the woodwork when you attempt an appeal for righteousness. You are overpowered with bold, aggressive words and actions. There is no limit to their commitment to defend their position. Make a simple statement of truth in the presence of lies, and you will be shamed at the least. Persist, and the power tribe appears out of the shadows to gang up against you.

They live to overpower righteousness.

Persist further, and the aggression increases against you. God forbid you find your own tribe to march against their madness; they will happily pull out their weapons to attack. They are hoping for the appearance of cause to get to do it. Don’t think they exercise the same restraint you do.

They want to do harm.

And they can with no consequences. Think Kyle Rittenhouse. Think Capitol rioters. They know they can do the unspeakable as long as they align with the current federal power.

They take. They steal. They believe themselves entitled to do so. They do not feel at all bad about it.

They remove your right to safety.

Distilled to its simplest form:

You have learned who makes you unsafe.

You used to trust those people. They are among your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, community, churches and organizations, police and firefighters, local, state, and federal elected officials, county, state and supreme courts, and local to highest administrations.

What could possibly be good about this time?

Back out of the trees to see the forest.

From a larger perspective, what is happening? How is this anything but evil?

From this distant viewpoint, go back in time, before you knew. Back when you thought that person was authentic in their kindness. Back when you thought your love for a person was requited. Back when you believed them to be respectful, honorable, noble, unselfish, and concerned for the good of all. Back when you believed what they said, because you credited them as being honest.

Fast forward to now. To knowing. To seeing.

It’s terrible to know and to see the terrible truth, yes.

But it’s also good, because it’s good to know. To have the masks stripped from the faces of people. To have the facades removed. To see people for who they are, not who they pretended to be for so long.

God is exposing the hearts of people.

To be sure, none of the evil is being caused by God. Evil exists because people are choosing it.

God leads people who are willing away from evil, not toward it. He turns all things together for good. He doesn’t forsake us.

People are wondering when God is going to come on the scene and help the oppressed and downtrodden.

He’s already doing it. He has been all along.

Yes, people are piling up the evil, seemingly without any hindrances, and evil appears to prevail unabated … but …

We see their hearts now, don’t we? Their hearts, that were secure and hidden for so long, are laid bare, aren’t they? They have been exposed.

We can check that off as the first of many conquests to come for good over evil. That’s no small thing.

Think of a chronological continuum. At the far left, just before we embarked on this time in America, we still assumed the best about most people. People who didn’t deserve to be counted as good were given our trust.

Because we didn’t know. Back then, only they and God knew what they were hiding. Many were great actors; they hid it very well.

But think about it: They were all those bad things back then that they are now. All that time, you were being duped. Conned. Bamboozled. Used and abused.

Learning that so many people are actually so bad is very, very painful, but also critical to know.

Every day someone’s heart is exposed for what it is, is a good day. Not a pain-free day, but a good day.

Each day that you know the truth, you are less vulnerable to being duped. Conned. Bamboozled. When you know the truth, you are positioned to rise above them. You are better positioned to be wise. You get to go forward, better informed about who you should trust or not.

If you are left with no one after your people have been exposed, you are still better positioned than any time in your life to rise up and go forward. Free of the anchors. Free of the defrauders and the inauthentic. Free of the con artists and liars. Free of the evil-hearted. Free of the thieves and destroyers.

Imagine the heights you can soar with all those anchors removed. Think of a hot air balloon that has never left the ground in all its existence. It has been tethered by countless ropes by countless people posing as helpers. When those people have been exposed as working to ground you instead of helping you rise in goodness, you need to release their ropes tied to you. Simply remove them from the basket of you, the hot air balloon.

And rise. Rise. Rise.

Once you rise above the trees, you can look back on the forest. And see …

There is good already happening. God has already been at work.

There is more to come on the continuam. This is just the beginning of how he is turning all things together for good. It started with exposure.

Exposure is God’s policy.

• 1 Corinthians 4:5: “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart”. 
• 1 Corinthians 14:25: “The secrets of his heart will be made known”. 
• Luke 8:17: “There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed”. 
• 1 Samuel 16:7: “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. 

Luke 12: 1-3 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.