God & the First Amendment

SCRIPTURE:  Take the noise of your songs away from Me [they are an irritation]! I shall not even listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice run down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream [flowing abundantly]. Amos 5:23-24 AMP

QUOTE: “The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance. … Consistent with the First Amendment, the Nation’s answer is tolerance, not coercion. The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands. Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch, June 30, 2023
(in writing the decision of the Supreme Court in 303 CREATIVE LLC ET AL. v. ELENIS ET AL.)

THOUGHT: As I was mourning what has become of June, with pride taking the front seat and humility the back, the Supreme Court was writing an opinion issued on the last day of the month and it feels like justice running down like waters. The government cannot deny us the Constitutions’ promise to speak and think freely; it cannot demand that we defy our conscience about matters of major significance.

The pity in it all is that the highest court of the land was forced to write such an opinion; that in the land of liberty and justice for all, the plain language of the constitution even had to be debated. And then there’s the fact that some people and organizations will ignore the guardrails and use the very freedom promised to find ways off the cliff.

Doesn’t that sound like the history of mankind though if you look at it from God’s perspective? He gives a simple rule to protect life, someone breaks it. He gives 10 simple rules for human flourishing, they are thrown out. He gives an entire law, people ignore it in favor of going off a cliff. Of course, they don’t see it as going off a cliff, they see it as the wild dance of freedom from restraint. So, they dance and make merry. They fiddle while Rome burns, so to speak, and the God of the Universe says the noise of your songs are an irritation. The music I want to hear is justice and righteousness.

PRAYER: Oh God, thank you for this music of justice from the Supreme Court of our land. Thank you for all the voices in our country who still speak righteously and call out what is good and right and perfect in your sight. Help us lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees, and make straight paths for our feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (Heb. 12:12-13).