Changing the Course of Our Country
We’re days away from the presidential inauguration, and based on the outcome of the November elections, the majority of Americans are elated that the Republicans have taken control of the White House, the Senate, and the House. WOO HOO! WE’RE GOING TO CHANGE THIS COUNTRY!
Eh, maybe. Maybe not.
Some of you just mentally castigated me for not believing we can Make America Great Again. For what it’s worth, I’m quite conservative (both theologically and politically), and I would hold to the same “maybe, maybe not” attitude if the Democrats were in charge. My beef is with the idea that all we need is the right people in charge (i.e., my people) and everything is going to change for the better.
Can I say it again? Maybe. Maybe not.
I want to see our country turn around. But in all our boisterous enthusiasm, we’re leaving out an essential element. But before I get to that …
Consider Moses. The Jewish kid raised in the palace of the ruler of the reigning empire. Moses was given the best of everything in training, education, and creature comforts. At the same time, his mother was right there, telling him the stories of his people—God’s people.
I have no doubt that Moses saw himself as God’s man of the hour. He was simpatico with his enslaved brothers and sisters, yet he had something else going for him: position and influence. Who was in a better place to help the Israelites? And that’s what Moses set out to do—one Israelite at a time.
“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:23-25, emphasis added).
Moses saw himself as the deliverer, and it took forty years as a forgotten exiled shepherd to learn that God is the true deliverer. By the time he was eighty, Moses was a reluctant leader—but now God could use him. Why? Moses had learned humility while herding smelly ungrateful sheep for forty years.
Changing the course of America in the right direction is not dependent simply on getting the right people in charge. Our American pride needs to be tempered with a recognition that we need to humble ourselves before God. Changing the course of our country will not depend on human means, but on trusting God to do what only God can do.
“[If] my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14).
God gave that promise to Israel (not America), but there is a principle here we must not ignore.
- If we want our country to prosper, we must humble ourselves under Christ.
- If we want to see our country turn back to morality and biblical principles, we must fall down before God with a cry for forgiveness.
- If we want our country to be strong, we must pray. Pray for our leaders. Pray for ourselves.
Let’s all stand up to do our part to make America a country that prospers as it honors God, but let’s do it with a strong dose of humility and trust in God.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).
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Banner photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash.
