God Bless America?

There is little doubt about it- America has a lot in common with Israel when it comes to God's blessing. Both nations began with a complete focus on God and God's hand was on them both as long as they continued to follow His ways. 

The other day in my devotional reading, I came across this quote: 

"[Jeremiah's] society suffered from pervasive moral and spiritual decay. The nation of Judah had turned so far from God that it was soon to face His fierce judgement." 

And that got me thinking . . . thoughts that I have wrestled with many times before. 

The scriptures paint a vivid picture of what happened to Israel/Judah when the people strayed from God. God removed his hand of protection and they were (more than once) subjected to God's judgement. 

In the United States, we sing the song: "God Bless America." And for many years, God HAS blessed us. But as I think about this song today, I cannot sing it without conviction that God is no longer blessing us. Can we still ask Him to bless us when we have strayed so far from his ways? When we are doing so many things directly against His will for us? I think not. We have lost our way and I believe it is time for His judgement. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to sing "God BlessED America."

That said, the scriptures also paint as vivid a picture of what happened when God's people repented and returned to Him and again followed His ways. They were restored and God began protecting and blessing once again. This isn't rocket science!

We are never too far away from God that we cannot repent and return. He promises to listen and restore when our hearts seek him and we change our ways.

I'm not trying to be prophetic, but I believe we are in for some serious judgement. We can turn this around, but it's going to take a LOT of prayer, repentance, and turning back; turning away from the things we have put in God's place. Christians won't be exempt- Jeremiah was a righteous man, but he suffered right along with the rest of his nation.

What will it take for America to realize we need to get to a place of repentance and turn our direction around? Will we see the coming judgement as God trying to get our attention? Or will we act as if it was God who turned from us first?

Here's what I pray at least twice every day:

"O Father, have mercy on all humanity. Draw all people to Your Truth."

Pray with me for revival with deep repentance and a return to God.