Proud to Be an American

Psalm 85 is a psalm of repentance - praying for God to restore a nation.   When we compare our founding principles and the integration of Biblical truth into the philosophies and actions of our founders with the way that many of our governmental leaders operate today, we see a clear disconnect.    Only as we as God's people come before Him, set our hearts right before Him, and release His power and truth through our faithful devotion can we see a reversal of the departure from the firm foundational principles upon which we were established.    Listen to the words of the Psalmist:
1b You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.



















         


2 You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin...
4Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your anger toward us to cease.
6Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?

If we as a nation, a collective unit, are not following the principles of Scripture and are not following the ways of God, we place ourselves in a precarious position - apart from the protective hand of God, and candidates for the judgment of God, because He's just, a righteous judge.  Yes, we stand before Him in judgment personally, but I believe there is a collective judgment upon nations, and by our departure as a nation from His ways, we are most vulnerable.   But, there's hope - if we align ourselves with His truth and turn to Him!

On this day after Independence Day, we reflect on the importance of a nation operating on Godly principles, according to Psalm 33:
10The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.11The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.12Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

A new Gallup poll is out that indicates that 85% of those surveyed said they were proud to be an American. 
This includes 57% who are extremely proud and 28% who are very proud. This high level of pride in being an American has varied only moderately over the past 12 years since the question was first asked, but has been lower since 2005 than it was in the years prior.

Despite their widespread national pride, Americans have a much more negative response when asked if the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be pleased or disappointed by the way the United States has turned out. 71% of Americans say the signers would be disappointed, while 27% say they would be pleased.

Americans have become significantly less positive in response to this question, down from a high of 54% who said the signers would be pleased in 2001.

Gallup's interpretation is that this is most likely an outgrowth of Americans' current level of negativity toward their government, including the record-low level of confidence that Americans have in Congress and the significant percentage of Americans who cite dissatisfaction with government as the third most important problem facing the country today, following the economy in general, which was #1 in the latest survey, and unemployment and jobs, which was second.

So, if people really know what the founders stood for and the core beliefs that motivated them, you have to admit that their philosophy and the way that America currently operates politically - and morally - today would be in stark contrast to those founding principles.   If we are no longer reinforcing our foundation, then we run the risk of being a nation in decline.

Our friends at Hobby Lobby ran a full page ad designed to remind Americans of our founding principles and the integration of spiritual truth that drove their actions, as well as others throughout the years.

I wanted to pull out a few highlights:

George Washington said:  “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Jay is quoted as saying:  “The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next.  Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”

Years later, in 1892, the high court reaffirmed these Christian principles upon which the nation was built:  These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons: they are organic [legal, governmental] utterances; they speak the voice of the entire people…These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.”

A quote from our 6th President, John Quincy Adams, is incredible! He said: “Is it not that in the chain of
human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? – that it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? – That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”

An 1854 House Judiciary Committee report reinforced these founding principles:

At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged…In this age there can be no substitute for Christianity…That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.”

We live in a nation that was founded on moral principles consistent with the Scriptures.   Our laws and the recognition that rights come from God and not from government have served us well for 237 years.   We must pray that our nation would hold to these strong, time-honored principles of personal and political governance.  And, it's important that we communicate these foundational truths in our spheres of influence.    As believers in Christ who recognize that God's way is best and that our founders were devoted to establishing a nation built on His foundation, we have to recognize that perhaps He will use us to help turn things around - it flows from personal revival, as we activate the power of God in our nation by our own repentance and devotion to walking in righteousness and holiness.