Are We Insulting God as a Nation?

Off to work today, here is a blast from the past on another of my old blogs, but it goes well with our Micah study. More Micah tomorrow!:

"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chron 7:14 (NIV)

Does God still punish whole nations for the sins of many? Does God consider the United States of America as part of His people?

Founded upon Christian principles, we are largely a nation that began with hopes of honoring the God who establishes governments and plans their uses. Immigrants originally came to this nation in hopes of using it as a land base for the spread of the gospel throughout the known world.

People still come to this nation, primarily in the hopes of making a life for themselves in a free enterprise system. Though once a land of promise and hope, recent years have allowed our country to become a moral mockery of what it once stood for. The Republican Congress undersigned $5 Trillion dollars in debt spending in eight years. The new Democratically controlled government has undersigned a spending bill of at least $1 Trillion dollars in debt spending for the last year and another Trillion for this year.

President Obama has signed an executive order to help fund abortions in foreign nations, such as Mexico whose government is morally corrupt and falling apart at the seams. Abortions are a sty in our eye and should be a state by state issue - proving again that our federal government has a lust for the power the states are supposed to have.

Gay rights should also be a state by state issue and yet people want to use the federal government for their own personal bully pulpits.

Pornography is as prevalent in 8 PM television as sand on the beach. Groups such as the ACLU support child pornography as free speech, yet throw a tantrum when Christians try to celebrate their faith in public.

Greed runs Wall Street. Pride and lust rule Hollywood. Deceit and more greed pour from our nation's capitol. Heresy drips from the mouths of our educational system.

And we all try to act as if there is nothing wrong. "Don't touch my sin and you can do anything you wish while governing my future." We have lost sight of the powerful desire to spread our faith as our fore fathers had once hoped. We pretend that our sins do not matter, but don't they?

Yes, they do. "Our sins matter because they insult God and create a barrier to relationship with Him" (Jerry Pence). God used to hold Israel guilty for sins ignored by the people:

'If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, they are guilty. Lev 4:13 (NIV)

Ignorance is not a way out of sin. Many people have for years been trying to warn our nation of its sinful practices and yet we refused to listen, hoping that having a remnant of faithful Christians would stave off the anger of God.

This is why we need to humble ourselves and pray and seek the face of God. We must turn from our wicked ways and return to a relationship with God that governs our lifestyle choices. We will never be able to legislate morality or ethical living - we would not have to legislate morality if we honored God faithfully.

We need a revival in our land but it will not come as long as we keep graying the waters around sin. Sin is destructive and deadly. It destroys families and people. It keeps others from ever reaching the the heights of God's plan for their life because it ruins the relationship that God wants to establish in all our lives.

Sin attacks our character as a nation and opens the door to corrupt governing. Socialism and communism are corrupt forms of governing that lack integrity and accountability.

There is hope in turning from our sinful ways. We did not need the stimulus as written because:

The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.Prov 10:3-4 (NIV)

Those who trust in the Lord will be saved. If we become diligent, we will become wealthy (especially if we pay off our personal debts and put away money for a rainy day and live without letting money control our lives). But mainly, learning to trust God and doing good will ensure:

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.Psalms 37:3-4 (NIV)