Wild Dogs Growl and Howl

One evening, we were watching the television and catching up on news, weather, and sports. Not that we believe any of them. The news is probably slanted, the weather prognosticator is often wrong, and the sports is obsessed with locker room fights, player ejections, and doping scandals. On to Wheel of Fortune.

The next morning during devotions, I read Psalm 59. These ancient words, perfectly described most of the current media outlets. Day and night, those who oppose the Lord, live in a destructive cycle of anger, criticism, and disgust. They occasionally appreciate innocence and beauty, if they can use it as a human interest story at the end of the telecast.

The Psalmist has revealed that the true servant of God has become the prey of those who act like wild dogs. Throughout the Psalm, the wild dogs growl and howl as they lie in wait for the next innocent victim. As verse 3 says, “The mighty are gathered against me.”

If you could step back for just a moment and compare the media of today to twenty years ago, here’s what you would find. For one thing, they have always been biased, but it was somewhat camouflaged under the term journalism. Prior to the late 90’s, the news media was more interested in straight news reports, and byzantine documentaries on traditional topics like social issues, economics, and government. The concept was to inform the public with tainted material in a covert effort to manipulate their thinking.

But things have changed. Now, they give us infotainment, where noted career curmudgeons and narcissistic celebrities seek to compromise our entire culture, lifestyles, and politics. In 2018, the news readers are more like tour guides in a house of horrors, trying to sway our opinion and dictate election outcomes

Further, the news media has become predictably prejudiced, and unabashedly pugnacious. While you cannot know a book by its’ cover, you can predict the content of a book by its’ publisher. Similarity, you can know the slant of the news by reading the call letters of the station. Rarely does anyone attempt to hide their bias.

Then, Psalm 59:7, cuts to the point, the wild dogs wander the streets at night with “swords in their lips.” Civility left most of the media when Google launched in 1998, and the Furby became every child’s worst nightmare. There does not seem to be an able defense against the attack of the wild dogs.

The psalmist gives the proper response in Psalm 59:16 ESV, “But I will sing of Your strength; I will sing aloud of Your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.”

You must know by now that any defense the Christian raises against the wild dogs, outside of Scripture, will usually fail. Only in the sacred Word of God do we have hope. Only in the wisdom of Christ, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can we expect to prevail. The Christian seldom understands how to use the carnal weapons of the world. Righteous minds and sanctified hearts cannot grasp the evil maneuverings the world uses to wield their carnal weapons.

Our strategy is described in 2 Corinthians 10: 4 NLT, “We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” Bottom line, do things God’s way and you will succeed against the wild dogs.