By Jim Mettenbrink
The rise and fall of a nation should concern every person. The reason is that God controls nations’ existence – “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it” (Jeremiah 18:7-10). What this passage does not reveal is the precise redline when God decides to destroy a nation. However, the security and prosperity of the nation, i.e., its continued stable existence is clear – Obey God and the nation stands.
There is a myriad of documents reflecting the founding of America and the USA revealing that the reverence for God was the first consideration. In the late 18th century, William Blackstone wrote a series of commentaries on British Law. During the 19th century, they were the primary reference for jurists in America’s appellate courts. He revealed his attitude in his comments –“As man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker’s will….The Creator … has laid down only such laws as were founded in those relations of justice….These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all his dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions.” In another comment, he wrote, “This law of nature … dictated by God Himself … is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this….This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of Divine Providence; which, in … the blindness of human reason, hath been pleased … to discover and enforce its laws by an immediate and direct revelation. The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures.” Undoubtedly, the 19th century American Jurists appealed to the commentaries of a man who feared God and the Bible.
However, like ancient Israel, for at least 70 years, we modern-day Americans preferred our selfishness – we want to be our own deity. Far too many laws are contrary to God’s order. Knowing the chronology of the Old Testament, tracing Israel’s existence at the very least reveals God’s patience and mercy. The question is “When will God have had enough of our abominations?” Or will we return to Him again and insist that laws at every level be in harmony with God. Our coins state, “In God we trust” but do we? How can we say we trust Him, when in fact we do not submit to Him, the Sovereign of everything that exists? When will we put Him on the throne of our nation? To do so begins with each one of us individually.