Will God Bless America?

The sermon given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on July 3, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 33.

            The United States of America has existed for nearly two hundred fifty years.  That’s a long time.  None of us, obviously, can remember a time when the United States did not exist.  Our parents could not remember a time like that.  Our grandparents could not remember a time like that.  Our great-grandparents could not remember a time like that.  When we talk about something that’s two hundred fifty years old, we’re talking about something that, in our minds, has basically been around forever.

            And because we cannot remember a time when the United States did not exist, we really cannot imagine a time when it will not exist.  I mean, sure, if we think about it, we can imagine scenarios in which the United States is destroyed.  But those are for works of fiction, for movies and TV shows and books and stuff.  Most of us don’t really believe there will be a time when the United States does not exist.  

            But of course, that’s what the nation of Israel thought, too.  At the time Psalm Thirty-three was written, the nation of Israel had existed for hundreds of years.  No one could remember a time when it had not existed.  No one believed there would be a time when it did not exist.  They thought God had blessed them, and that God would always bless them.  In fact, they pretty much took it for granted that God would always bless them.  

            Psalm thirty-three says that’s not true.  Psalm thirty-three says the nation of Israel cannot take it for granted that God will bless them.  If they want God to bless them, they need to obey God and fear God.

            The psalm starts out by telling us to sing praises to God.  Then it tells us about the character of God.  The word of the Lord is “right and true; he is faithful in all he does.  The Lord loves righteousness and justice.”

            The psalm then tells us about God’s power.  “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.”

            Because God is righteous and faithful and just, and because of the incredible power God has, we’re told “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.”  That phrase, “fear the Lord”, often sounds strange to us.  When we think of God, we think of a loving God:  “God is love.”  We think of a forgiving God.  We think of a God who’s our friend.  “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is the old hymn.

            And of course, all that’s true.  God is love.  God is forgiving.  God is our friend.  But that’s not all God is.  As the psalm says, God is also righteous and faithful and just.  God may always love us, but as any parent knows, love sometimes requires discipline.  When we do wrong, or simply fail to do right, there are consequences to that.  If there were not, we would never learn anything.  So while God loves us, and God will forgive us, God sometimes makes us accept those consequences and deal with them.

            And God’s righteousness and justice also come into play when we take God for granted.  That’s what the nation of Israel did.  They thought they could do anything they wanted and God will always bless them because, well, they were Israel.  They thought they could ignore God, that they could disrespect God, that they could mock God, and that there would be no consequences for them for that.  They thought God would always bail them out because, again, they were Israel.

            As our psalm goes on to say, that’s not the way it works.  It says, “The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

            Israel might think it was in control of its own destiny, it might think it could do whatever it wanted, but God was stronger than Israel.  It did not matter what Israel’s plans were.  It was God’s plans that would prevail.  

            And what was God’s plan?  To bless the nation that stayed faithful to Him.  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.  From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he sees all who live on earth–he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do….the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.”

            Much of the Old Testament is Israel having to learn the same lesson over and over.  God would bless them, and they would prosper.  But eventually, they would turn away from God.  And they would not prosper anymore.  In fact, quite often, they would be taken over by a foreign nation.  Then, the people would repent, turn back to God, and ask God to forgive them.  God would forgive them, God would bless them again, they would be a free nation again, and they would prosper again.  And then, they would turn away from God again.  And the circle would start all over.

\           Now, we have to be a little bit careful in how we apply this.  The promises God made to Israel are specific to Israel.  There is nothing in the Bible that says they apply to other nations.  There is certainly nothing in the Bible that says they apply to the United States–the United States would not exist for well over a thousand years after the Bible was written.  God knew it would exist, of course–God knows everything in the past, present, and future.  But the Bible does not mention the United States or even hint at it.  

            Having said that, though, it is undeniable that God has blessed America.  God has blessed us with freedom and prosperity.  God has blessed us with vast natural resources.  God has blessed us with a land of great beauty.  God has blessed America in more ways than we would have time to list tonight.

            It is also undeniable that, in many ways, America has turned away from God.  Every poll you can find shows that fewer and fewer Americans believe in God, and of those who do believe in God, fewer and fewer believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  And I think any objective look at American society would show a country in which more and more people believe they can do whatever they want.  That we can ignore God, that we can disrespect God, that we can mock God, and there will be no consequences for that.  We will continue to be a strong, prosperous nation because, well, because we’re the United States of America.

            Now, again, I’m not saying that the United States has taken the place of Israel.  I also don’t pretend to be able to read the mind of God.  But it seems unlikely to me that God would continue to bless a nation–any nation–that ignored Him, that disrespected Him, and that mocked Him.  Again, God could–God can do whatever God chooses to do.  But it does not seem likely.

            So, if we want God to continue to bless America, we need to turn back to God.  Now, there’s no guarantee that, if we do, God will continue to bless America.  Again, God can do whatever God chooses to do.  We cannot manipulate God into doing what we want God to do, and God does not owe it to us to do anything.  But it does seem more likely that God will bless us if we turn back to God.  Again, from our psalm, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

            But how can we, sitting here in a small town in north-central South Dakota, make that happen?  Well, I don’t know if we can.  But I have an idea of how we can start.  We can start with ourselves.  We can start by making sure we stay faithful to God, or by turning back to God if we have not stayed faithful to Him.  We can start by serving God, showing love to God, and showing love to others.  And we can start by living lives that show we do those things.

            I know there are not a lot of people here tonight, and there are probably not a lot of people watching the livestream, either.  But if we all start living lives that show our love for God and our love for others, I think there’s a good chance someone will notice.  And maybe that someone will decide to live their life that way, too.  And maybe that someone will influence someone else, and someone else, and someone else.  After all, every great movement had to start with some person in some place.  Who’s to say it could not start with you and me here in Gettysburg, South Dakota?  That may not seem very likely.  It may even seem impossible.  But remember, with God, all things are possible.

Two hundred fifty years might seem like a long time to us, but it’s not long compared to the history of the world, and it’s even a shorter time to God.  If we want America to continue to receive God’s blessings, we need to turn back to God.  And the best place to start is with ourselves.