The Madness of March

In the United States, this is the time of the year that all basketball fans love. However, many people aren’t necessarily basketball fans that love basketball in March. The NCAA basketball tournament begins this week. This is the tournament in which the best college basketball teams play to determine the champion of college basketball each year. It is called “March Madness” because the tournament is always in March, and there are always some crazy, unexpected results. There will be close games, last-second shots, and numerous upsets in which a lower-ranked team will beat a much higher-ranked team. This is where the madness comes in and is why everyone loves March Madness.

There is another type of madness that we see right now that is not so much fun. In fact, it is awful. We have seen Russia invade Ukraine and are seeing the destruction of a nation on the evening news every night. Many people are attempting to flee the country, living as refugees in a land not their own. Homes and businesses are being destroyed. Even hospitals have not been spared. And, of course, many people on both sides are being wounded or killed.

As we watch this madness unfold, we realize the madness runs deeper than we may have initially thought. Sanctions against Russia are having an impact, but the collateral damage is the suffering of the Russian people, many of whom are protesting what their government is doing. A different option would be for other nations to militarily intervene, but governments are reluctant to do so, believing it would escalate and broaden the hostilities, with the potential of leading to a nuclear attack by an unstable leader. This is indeed a very dark madness we see.

The war in Ukraine rightly dominates our concerns at the moment, but there is much madness in the world that has nothing to Russia and Ukraine. In the U.S., we are fighting over things like whether or not teachers should talk with 5-year-olds about “changing their gender,” whether or not it is okay to kill pre-born babies, and if so, at what age.

We are also concerned over high inflation, simmering racial tensions, and many other issues. Worldwide, we continue to see Christians persecuted and killed in many places, Nigeria being the deadliest nation in which a Christian might live. We are concerned about North Korea, China, Iran, and other countries with real potential for initiating global difficulties. And the Middle East is always a powder keg waiting to explode. Again, there is much madness in the world.

So, what do we do in the midst of such madness? We remember God’s promise that “He will be the stability of our times.” Today, and every day, remember that God is strong, God is stable, and God is Immanuel, God with us. When the madness shakes your world, read Psalm 46, and remember that the Lord is God, and that is good enough.

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
|7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.