Righteousness [moral and spiritual integrity and virtuous character] exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34, Amplified Bible)
He makes nations rise and then fall, builds up some and abandons others. He robs world leaders of their reason, and sends them off into no man’s land. They grope in the dark without a clue, lurching and staggering like drunks. (Job 12:23-25, The Message)
Last week, I was privileged to teach at a Links Fellowship. One of the men told a funny story about playing at Royal County Down. Early in the round, he flared his shot into the gorse. He turned to his caddie and asked, “Can we find it?” The caddie responded, “If you had bacon tied around it, Lassie couldn’t find it.”
When we relived the story over breakfast, he laughed only slightly softer than the rest of us. Of course, when this initially happened, the truth stung a bit more; there is nothing like the unvarnished truth to humble us.
Later that day, I played with these men at a historic course. On number one, my nine iron left me buried under the lip of the bunker; beginning with a double was no fun. I scrambled to save par on two. From there, it was all downhill.
I was trying so hard to play well that I hyper-extended the tendons in my right elbow. Thankfully, one of my playing partners was a doctor. He iced me down, and I spent the rest of the round saying “good shot” to the other three men. Externally, I behaved appropriately. But internally, I was “licking my wounds.”
Back home the next day, I was with my grandson on the putting green, and a gentleman I greatly respect asked me, “Who wrote last Friday’s devotional?” With thinly veiled hubris and expecting adulation, I answered, “I did!” He smiled and said, “What do you know of humility?” Busted again!
We had a good laugh at my expense. But I knew there was something deep down inside of me that wanted his praise! Yep! Sadly, pride is a stubborn reality in my life.
Sixteen hundred years ago, Augustine wrote The City of God. As he defended Christians against pagan accusations for the sack of Rome, he spelled out the human condition with the metaphor of “two cities”—The City of Man consists of men and women who love themselves. In contrast, the City of God consists of men and women who, by grace, love God. Essentially, pride is the inordinate love of self.
When we ponder the condition of our hearts, we quickly discover that we are a “mess.” C. S. Lewis observes, “…the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride…Pride leads to every other vice… it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.”
The USA has enjoyed incalculable blessings for centuries. Yet, like the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires, America is headed for the dustbin of history unless we humble ourselves and the Lord of history has mercy on our nation.
By nature, I am an incurable optimist! Eschatologically (the study of last things), I am committed to the worldwide advance of Christ’s kingdom by Spirit-empowered gospel proclamation before the Second Coming of Christ. And I am a patriot. I, like you, love our nation.
Yet, it doesn’t take a genius to realize our nation is in severe moral decline. Let’s humble ourselves before God and petition heaven for his mercy and another Great Awakening.
Scholars have long predicted that our nation would collapse from within rather than from without. Let’s prove them wrong by asking the Father to visit our country with a coast-to-coast revival of deep repentance leading to strong individual and prevailing cultural righteousness.
Throughout church history, the Lord, in his kindness, poured out his Spirit on the debauched nations of Scotland, England, and, yes, America in the early hours of her birth. May he do it again!
Prayer: God! Have mercy!