God Blessed America
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people
whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. - Ps 33:12
Introduction:
Song: America the Beautiful, by Katherine Lee Bates 1913
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Are the words and sentiment of this song true? Did God
really shed his grace on our country? I believe they are true and that we can
clearly see the evidence of both the blessing and the reason why we were
blessed.
Our country is unique in that it alone is a Gentile country
founded upon the principles of God's Word. A nation and a people carved out of
the wilderness to create a place for the free worship of the Almighty. It has
been this founding, and the subsequent revivals which returned us a nation to
that foundation, that has been the major reason for the prosperity and blessings
in our country.
The evidence is throughout our history. It is written into
the documents that brought us to life and now sustain that life. The
Declaration of Independence speaks of being "endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights." The Colonial Congress and the Constitutional
Convention were opened daily in prayer. The motto of our country imprinted upon
our coins is "In God We Trust."
God Blessed
Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD;
and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Was American a Christian Nation? Did God Bless Its People
and History?
The Colonies
November 3, 1620 - King James I grants the Charter of the
Plymouth council.
"In the hope thereby to advance the enlargement of the
Christian religion, to the glory of God Almighty."
November 11, 1620 - The Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact
aboard the Mayflower, in Plymouth harbor.
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are
underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by
the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith,
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of
the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant
the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents,
solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick,
The Revolutionary War
Summer 12, 1775 – In the midst of the war against England,
the Continental Congress issues a call to all citizens to fast and pray and
confess their sin that the Lord might bless the land.
"And it is recommended to Christians of all
denominations, to assemble for public worship, and to abstain from servile
labor and recreation on said day."
The Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Constitution
At least 50 out of the 55 men who framed the Constitution of
the United States were professing Christians. (M.E. Bradford, A Worthy Company,
Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1982).
Benjamin Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the
more convincing proofs I see of this truth: "that God governs in the
affairs of man." And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His
notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that
except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly
believe this. I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed
in the political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be
divided by our little, partial local interests; our projects will be
confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to
future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate
instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to
chance, war or conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers
imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held
in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business.
(Historical note to above: the convention was then adjourned
for three days of prayer, Bible reading and special church meetings, following
which the Constitution was discussed and adopted.)
James Madison (primary architect of the Constitution)
We have staked the future of government not upon the power
of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political
institutions on the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves
according to the Ten Commandments of God.
The Supreme Court
First chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Honorable
John Jay, who had also served as governor of New York. He wrote:
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their
rulers, and it is the duty ... of our Christian nation to select and prefer
Christians for their rulers." --1816.
In 1892, Justice David Brewer, writing for the majority in
the case of the Church of the Holy Trinity vs. the United States, said this:
"This is a religious people. This is historically
true. From the discovery of this
continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation
...
We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth ...
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. --1892 (15)
Justice William O. Douglas wrote succinctly:
"We are a religious people whose institutions
presuppose a Supreme Being." --1952 (16)
One Supreme Court chief justices, Earl
Warren, left no doubt about what he believed in a 1954:
"I believe no one can read the history of our country
without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have from the
beginning been our guiding geniuses ... Whether we look to the first Charter of
Virginia ... or to the Charter of New England ... or to the Charter of
Massachusetts Bay ... or to the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut ... the same
objective is present ... a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I
believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our
forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it: freedom of belief, of
expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the
sanctity of the home, equal justice under law, and the reservation of powers to
the people ... I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the
Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great
harm can come to our country." --1954
The Presidents
George Washington
George Washington, Inaugural Address
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the
invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the
United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an
independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of
providential agency . . . We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious
smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal
rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.
(Historical note to above: Washington added the pledge,
"So help me God," to his inaugural oath. He then kissed the Bible to
affirm his submission to the King of Kings.)
John Adams, our first vice president and second president,
wrote:
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
--1798
Thomas Jefferson, our third president and one of the
principle framers of the Constitution D.C.:
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when
we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people
that these liberties are of the gift of God?" -1781
Our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, said this:
"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?" --1837
Abraham Lincoln would fill a book about his beliefs on God
and country.
It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their
dependence upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth
announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations
only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
"Unless the great God who assisted [President
Washington], shall be with me and aid me, I must fail. But if the same
omniscient mind, and Almighty arm, that directed and protected him, shall guide
and support me, I shall not fail ... Let us pray that the God of our fathers
may not forsake us now." --1861
Calvin Coolidge, our 30th president, said this about
America's founding fathers:
"They were intent upon establishing a Christian
commonwealth in accordance with the principle of self-government. They were an
inspired body of men. It has been said that God sifted the nations that He
might send choice grain into the wilderness ... Who can fail to see it in the
hand of Destiny? Who can doubt that it has been guided by a Divine
Providence?" -1923
Here are the words of Woodrow Wilson, our 28th president and
governor of New Jersey:
"America was born a Christian nation. America was born
to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived
from the revelations of the Holy Scripture." -1911 (27)
Franklin Roosevelt prayed this prayer on a national radio
hookup on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as our troops stormed the beaches of Normandy,
France:
"Almighty God ... with Thy blessing we shall prevail
over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and
racial arrogance. Lead us to the saving
of our country. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen." --1944
Gerald Ford, our 38th president, quoted a 1955 speech by
Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 5, 1974 summed it up well when he said,
"Without God there could be no American form of
government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is
the first--the most basic--expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding
fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be."
--1974 (31)
These all believed that God had blessed The United States of
America because the United States had been founded upon the precepts and
principle of God’s Word.
Transition:
But it is not enough to be founded as a Christian nation
because God does not dwell in the past but in the present and God continues to
see us and deal with us according to what He see.
God Beholds
Psalms 33:13 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all
the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the
inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth
their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. There is no king saved by
the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. An
horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great
strength.
Only In God Was Their Security
The Psalms says there is no safety in armies or might or
machines or strength.
The only hope any nation or people or individual can have is
in God.
Only In God Is Our Security
We as a nation once believed what Psalms 33 says, that God looks
upon the sons of man.
We believed that he looked and that he acted according to
what He sees. That he blessed and that He could remove His blessing. We
believed He was protecting us or if we refused to acknowledge Him as God, he
could remove that protection.
Lincoln believed it in the midst of the Civil War On April
30, 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of
fasting, humiliation, and prayer.
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of
heaven. We have been preserved, these
many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and
power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious
hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened
us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all
these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too
self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too
proud to pray to the God that made us!
In His Proclamation of Thanksgiving, October 1863, He
proclaimed, “It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the ascended
power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Our nation cannot survive as the nation of strength and
prosperity that it was in the past unless we return to the belief that God is
looking down on us as people and as a nation and that He rewarding and
punishing according to what He sees and what we are doing.
Illustration: Jane Clayson (The Early Show, CBS) interviews Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz.
All we count on as the strength of America could be lost in
a moment, without God the USA would be nothing more than a footnote of history.
We all watched in horror on Sept. 11th 2001 as our nation
was attacked and changed forever. In only a few minutes we were turned from our
pride and strength to disbelief. How could such a thing happen to us?
Jane Clayson: I've heard people say, those who are religious,
those who are not, if God is good, how could God let this happen? To that, you
say?
Anne Graham Lotz: I say God is also angry when he sees
something like this. I would say also for several years now Americans in a
sense have shaken their fist at God and said, God, we want you out of our
schools, our government, our business, we want you out of our marketplace. And
God… has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public
life. Removing his hand of blessing and protection. We need to turn to God
first of all and say, God, we're sorry we have treated you this way and we
invite you now to come into our national life. We put our trust in you. We have
our “Trust in God” on our coins, we need to practice it.
Transition:
Let me conclude by also reminding you that what is true of
nations is also even more true of individuals. We must never forget that God is
watching each of us.
God, Behold
Psalms 33:16-22 Behold,
the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his
mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our
help and our shield. For our heart shall
rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according
as we hope in thee.
We May Fail But God Will Not
In the midst of national failure, know that God does not
fail His own.
The Psalmist says behold God is watching over those who
worship Him, those who have placed their hope in Him.
He will deliver their souls and he will keep them alive in
the worst of calamities. Our soul waits upon God, he is our help and our
protection. This we know and can rejoice because we have trusted in His Holy
and Righteous name.
We Need To Behold God More Than Every
It is more needful today than it ever has been. We need to behold
God, to look to Him as our help and shield.
I am glad to live in the United State of America, I am
grateful for the life, opportunity and protection that we have been granted as
citizens of this nation. I am proud of our history, I am humbled by those who
have served in its military and by those who have served in its government, but
those things are not where I put my faith in trust. Those things as truly great
as they are cannot save me and cannot give me one day in eternity nor one
moment’s assurance of goodness and grace. Only God can do that.
I trust that God watches over me, my family and my church. I
believe that through faith in Jesus Christ, He will deliver my soul. I believe
He is my help and shield. I believe that my heart shall rejoice in him because
I have trusted in His Holy name.
Can you say it is true in your soul today? Do you know God?
This is not a mental imagination. It is the reality of
experiencing the love of God and his forgiveness and protection through Jesus
His Son.
The Bible continually invites us to know Him.
Isaiah 45:22-24 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out
of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even
to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
Isaiah 55:1-3 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that
which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul
shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David.
If we don't know Him, if we are not looking to Him to save,
protect and bless us then it matters not what nation we live in, what jobs we have, what persons we married or
what amount of money we have in the bank, these thing will not save us.
If we are would be blessed, we are blessed because of Him.
We have hope with Him, we are hopeless without Him
We have strength with Him, we are invalids without Him
We have eternal life with Him, but without Him we have only
eternal death.
Illustration: Jesus and the rich man whose barns were filled
Luke 12:16-21 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The
ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within
himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my
fruits? And he said, This will I do: I
will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my
fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid
up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto
him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall
those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for
himself, and is not rich toward God.
It is true of a nation; it is also true of us as
individuals. What are we filling our barns, our lives, our nation with? If we do not include God in what we treasure,
then we will have nothing when we stand before God.
Conclusion: Last verse of Star Spangled Banner
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a
nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Is it just verses in a song or do you know what it means to
trust in God? Can you truly praise the
power that has made and preserved us a nation?
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