Read Proverbs 14
Let’s
examine ourselves as a nation in the context of one of Solomon’s proverbs.
Righteousness
exalts a nation,
but sin condemns any people.
It’s easy to
look at somebody else, but sometimes we need to look at ourselves.
Let’s start
with money. I will jump ahead to chapter
22 and note that the borrower
is slave to the lender. If we adhere
to this tenant of wisdom, our nation is indebted—enslaved—to those who hold the
note. Some would say this is China and
China does hold a lot of our debt, but not as much as advertised.
Still, we
are a nation in debt. We crave things
that we can’t afford but pay for them anyway with money we don’t have. We practice neither prudence nor discipline.
I’m thinking
that we get an F- on handling money. We
are slave to our lenders.
What about
our language? Our culture is full of
foul language. Our literature and
entertainment are full of profanity. We
defame the name of God. I’m going with a
D- here. It could be worse but not by
much.
What about
valuing life? We printed tens of millions
of tee shirts that said, Black Lives Matter but got upset when someone
said All Lives Matter. We
continued to ignore life in the womb proclaiming a woman’s right to kill as
more valuable.
We were slow
to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry on this topic and others,
but I think we get another F- here. We
don’t value life.
Sure, we see
individual examples all the time where one person risks his life to save
another, but as a nation we are failing.
I may
be—certainly am—preaching to those who do value life, are master over their
money, and do not profane the name of God, but our nation stands condemned on
these matters.
No number of
extra assignments can bring our grade up.
Only wholesale repentance can help.
I like the
meme that says I am proud of my country but ashamed of my government. It has an attraction to it, but it’s no
excuse for us.
Consider
when God’s
people asked for a king. Samuel argued against it but petitioned God
nonetheless. Listen to God’s reply
through Samuel.
Samuel told
all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will
reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them
serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his
chariots. Some he will assign to be
commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his
ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and
equipment for his chariots. He will take
your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and
vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your
vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of
your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you
yourselves will become his slaves. When
that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but
the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
The people
thought about all that this would cost them and said, “Yeah, ok, we’ll take a
king.”
Now consider
the atmosphere of 1775. The colonists in
America were tired of the abuses of the King of England and began forming
armies, then declaring their independence the next year.
A decade
after this war of independence, the people adopted a constitution. It was to be
a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It was based in the principle that the power
of governments emanated from the people.
It was a
noble concept, often called the Grand Experiment. In the context of this proverb, it tells us
that we have no excuse. Our
representatives may be doing terrible things, but we put them there and we are
keeping them there.
They are
us. Ouch. Sin condemns any people.
Now we are
blessed to live in a land where self-determination is woven into the fabric of
who we are, but we must acknowledge that we have no excuse as a nation. We must confess to Holy God that we who are a
participating part of this nation have sinned against him.
Are we
protected by the blood of Jesus?
Yes.
Is our
nation protected? Only by its own
righteousness and I would say that we are getting a failing grade. No nation is perfect. No nation can be completely righteous, but a
nation full of believers should be doing a much better job than we are.
The people
wanted a king. God told them the
cost. The people said they wanted one
any way.
Do you know
the first time the letters lol were used? When people wanted to govern themselves as
one nation under God.
We wanted self-government—at
least a republic—a representative government. The cost is that we cannot blame
the sins of our nation on those who represent us. They are us.
First
century Christians lived under a godless regime. The Romans had plenty of gods but profaned
the one true god. Christians persevered.
The
difference today is that we have claimed the right to govern ourselves. Perseverance is not enough. As the governors of this nation, we must also
consider the counsel to kings and rulers.
Our charge
is to bring this nation back to right standing with God.
I don’t know
that we can do this at the ballot box or not.
I don’t know if there will ever be a valid election in this nation
again. I don’t know.
What I do
know is that the righteousness of this nation can be won person by person,
family by family, community by community that will come to God through Christ
Jesus.
I would love
to proclaim to the world that we are a godly nation. I can’t do that today. I can proclaim that this body seeks God and
his kingdom and his righteousness and his wisdom, but we must also seek to
bring others to right standing with God through Jesus.
I would love
to being able to vote this nation into right-standing with God, but the course
most likely to succeed is to pray and evangelize our way to being a godly
nation.
Pray and
evangelize.
Pray and
evangelize.
Let’s pray
and evangelize until we are exalted before God as a righteousness nation.
Amen.
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