Our nation celebrates its independence next month on July 4th. You probably were
aware of that. A well know songs proclaims, "America! America! God shed His
grace on thee." It is true that the blessings of God are worth singing about.
But why is our nation turning from the principle upon which it was founded and grew strong? God invites, "Remember this, and be assured; recall it to your mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God." (Isa. 46:9,10).
A story is told of a man from our country who was traveling in South America. He was asked to explain why there was so much prosperity in North America and so much poverty in South America. He answered, "Perhaps it is because the Spanish conquistadors came looking for gold while the pilgrims came looking for God." So why are we abandoning what has always been the true source of our national strength?
Dwight Eisenhower said, "The spirit of a man is more important that mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth." The Bible says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Prov. 14:34). Our coins say, "In God we trust." Our pledge says, "One nation, under God." Our Declaration of Independence speaks of "A firm reliance on the protection of divine providence." Are these sayings true anymore?
Thomas Jefferson once said, "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."
The Lord challenged the nation of Judah to "remember this, and be assured; recall it to your mind... remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other." (Isa. 46:9,10). Judah had become as a nation what our nation is becoming. Lawless, immoral, unprincipled, greedy and dishonest. God invited Judah to remember how He had carried them and delivered them. He reminded them of how once they had been blessed and protected, but now they had turned away from their Protector. They had forgotten their roots and the true source of what had once been their national strength.
Woodrow Wilson said, "A nation that does not remember what it
was yesterday does not know what it is today nor what it is trying to do. We are
trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have
been about." I am absolutely confident that God has blessed our nation in the
past because of the righteous goals of our forefathers. Not that they were
perfect - they were not - but they built a nation founded on Biblical
principles. Many leaders today are attacking those same principles. Are we
sowing the wind to one day reap a whirlwind? (Hosea 8:7).
By Jon W. Quinn
The Front Page
From Expository Files 13.6; June 2006
