Has the hand of God lifted?

How much abandonment, insult, and lack of attention will God take before he removes his blessings, or has he already?  I believe that a case can well be argued for the latter, especially when we consider the amazing and often miraculous events that brought this country into being, and then compare that to the amazing and often astonishing events that work to destroy the whole fabric of the United States and the citizens within.

The inaugural address of President Washington (when he became the first president under the new Constitution),

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.

What were some of those “propitious smiles of Heaven?”  Well for one, during one of the battles in the French and Indian war, every officer on horseback was killed except Washington, and Washington, in a letter to his brother, wrote,

But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me.

In a major battle of the Revolutionary War, Washington finds his men, 8,000 of them, trapped between British General Howe and the East River.  In the morning the trapped men were doomed to be annihilated.  During the night, Washington rounded up every vessel he could find and ferried men across the East River.  Working all night was not sufficient, and in the morning a large number of his troops were still left to face certain death at the hands of the British.  Miraculously a dense fog settled in over the area long enough for Washington to move all the rest of the troops!  They escaped and the battle that could have ended the revolution, never happened, freeing the patriots to fight on.

There are many stories of miracles.  The colonies, facing the British, were like David when he faced Goliath.  By real world standards they did not have a chance.  However, what they had was a lot better.  They had a passion for liberty and faith in God, the “Invisible Hand.”

Now let us turn to today and compare.  Today we have Christians who reverently love and serve our Lord.  Today we have Christians who passionately speak out, sharing the good news of a different sort of liberty.  However, today those voices are in the minority, and those seeking to love and serve are being ridiculed as ignorant and stupid by their fellow citizens.  Today, we have Christians who believe in caring for the poor, homeless, destitute, sick, and lonely at the expense of their own time and money, and yet their sacrifice goes unnoticed in the clamor over important things like tolerance and justice.  Oh, please understand tolerance and justice are extremely important, and Christians are aware of God’s strong emphasis on such. However, the culture today has so twisted tolerance and justice to make them nearly the opposite of what they used to be.  (See my previous post about the upside down culture we live in).

True justice is almost gone, and true tolerance is now considered intolerant.  Is it just when some shout for “equality” when they really mean take what someone has worked hard for and give it to the person who has not worked at all?  Is that just?  I can give you a personal example.  I have worked all my life and paid taxes every year.  I live at an income just below the middle of the middle class.  When one of my children needed mental health assistance, we were turned down.  Why?  I was told it was because I worked and paid taxes.  I could not believe my ears.  I had to ask, “You mean if I quit my job and went on welfare, you could provide these services to my child?”  The answer was, “yes”.  So, I, an average and hard-working American citizen could not get services for my child if they were paid for by tax revenue, but my tax money would go to pay for the mental health services of a child whose parents did not pay taxes. Is this just?  Have you heard anyone trying to fix this?  No, instead we hear about taking from the rich and giving to the poor.  How can that be right?  It is just sweet sugar of deception.  We like the sound of getting something for nothing, but to claim that it is fair and just is a plain lie.

How is it fair that people who don’t work, have not paid any tax, are getting food stamps, school vouchers, free medical care, and in some cases free housing, get hundreds of dollars back when they fill out their income tax each year?  How is that fair?  Personally, I don’t mind people getting the help they need, but to then pay them money as well seems crazy to me.  How is this fair and just?  It is really happening.

Then considering all this, we want to take money from the wealthy, who have earned that money by working, and give it to the poor.  Really?  Will it only be fair when we all have exactly the same amount of money?  Think.  Think.  Don’t eat the sweet sugar of deception.  How long will people work hard and make money, if we keep giving it to those who don’t?  Eventually they will work less, make less, and have to give up less.  Who gets hurt then?  Those who were counting on the free handout, of course.  Eventually, we will be equally poor because no one will work hard just to have their money given away.  Just?  Fair?  Hmmm.  It sounds like a bad idea if you stop to think beyond the immediate money grab.

We have things so mixed up in this country.  You don’t have to look far to figure out why.  Once we started pushing God out of the lives of our citizens, especially in the educational system, we lost our sense of true north.  And so, like people lost in the woods, we wander deeper and deeper into the darkness.

God has been ignored, or worse, intentionally pushed away.  The ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State have done a good job of keeping people away from God.  Basically, you can have God in your homes, in your cars, and in your churches, but anything else is up to a challenge.  Now, would God bless a nation who had pushed him aside?  We know from the history of the Jewish people who, when they pushed God aside and took him for granted while they went their merry way ignoring him, ended up having God grant their wish.  He let them handle things on their own without any assistance from him.  It seemed to work out really bad for them as they were carted off to foreign lands as slaves.  Oh, and those were the lucky ones.  Many of the men who fought against the encroaching enemy got the privileged of being impaled on stakes as advertisement to the next town of what could happen to them if they did not surrender.  Not so nice!

When the people faithfully worshiped, honored, and worked to obey God, he worked miracles on their behalf.  When they turned away, he’d send prophets to beg them to return.  He gave them multiple chances, but if they still chose to push him out of their lives, he obliged and granted them their wish, God out of their lives.  Eventually, they would repent and return to faithfulness for a time.

I think we have become like the Israelites who pushed God out of their lives, and I think God has sent us prophets (writers, pastors, and others) to call us to repentance. These warnings find root in some, but are tossed aside by the vast majority.  It is my belief that God has given us what we have asked for; he has given us a country that is no longer under his protection, and will no longer be blessed by him.  What we see all around us, the violence, the immorality, the vitriol and hatred toward that which is wholesome, moral, kind, and good, and the almost unstoppable movement toward self-destruction is the proof, at least to me.

Will you stand with me and fight for God?  Will you join me in sharing God’s call for Americans to “wake up?”

God may relent if we, as a country, repent and remember him once more. It may not be too late.  After all God is a God of justice and mercy.