I was listening a while back to someone singing "God Bless America." For the first time it struck me about what we are singing. It is a song that is sung before ballgames and has become a part of our nations most beloved songs. Let's think about the song and what we sing that we want God to bless America. Maybe we have something backwards.
In Psa. 86:9-10, David writes: "All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God." David realized that the nations are to glorify God and His name. As Jesus taught His disciples, He told them, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify you Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16) The disciples of Jesus are to live in ways that bring God glory and honor. In Jesus' prayer in John 17:1, "Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You." Jesus wanted God glorified! Paul reminded the Roman brethren in Rom. 9:17: "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth." The name of God was to be proclaimed through Pharaoh.
What does all this mean? Too many have the mistaken thought that God exists to bless America! The opposite is true. AMERICA EXISTS TO BLESS GOD! We seem to have it backward. God has blessed America and what has our nation done? Pushed God out! The only One that can save this nation of ours is the One whose glory we should be seeking to proclaim. If we really want to help our nation turn around, we need to pray for God's help that we glorify His name! Pray for our leaders and nation. Let's seek to glorify God in our lives by living according to His standard. If we would do that, we would see a nation that is blessed!
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This nation has become so accustomed to the sins of pride, lust, and power that it no longer focused on God. Oh, the nation proclaims God this and God that, but this is only self righteousness. Our founders kept their focus on God. Today, we expect God's focus to be on us. The nation does all this proclaimming and yet either doesn't know what Jesus said in Matthew 7 or it chooses to ignore it. Shameful.
Along this same topic, I heard something on a news broadcast yesterday concerning the earthquake in Haiti that more or less follows this same idea. There was a segment about a group of children in an orphanage that had survived the quake. Someone was proclaing that "someone" was with them while another proclaimed that God was watching over them. I am not making light of the quake and the suffering so please don't think along those lines. My point is that these people believe there was a special intervention by God for just these children and that God was especially watching over them and protecting them. They come just short of calling it a miracle.
God is always here for us. How foolish are we to believe God is only there when something really good or something, such as in this case, bad happens? No, God does not need us, however we must come to understand that God has extended mercy and grace unto us and we do need God. God is always there for us and we should gain strength from this fact alone.
We all are appointed a day on which we will die to which God does know. Yes, suffering in this physical life can be so hard to undertand and accept, especially on such a large scale as this quake. We are told in God's word there will be struggles and suffering, even by those which are faithful to God. In the end, it' not about our physical life, but rather our soul and spiritual life.
Remember to pray for those which are suffering, and not just in the aftermath of the quake too. Remember those brothers and sisters in Christ which struggle too, both with the physical and spiritual.
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