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“Nevertheless, the Lord...”
Nevertheless, the Lord…”
It comes as no surprise to hear that we are living in a day in which negativity pervades the American people. Whether we are listening to the nightly news (local and/or national) or perusing the internet or the social networks, we cannot escape being bombarded by the many reports of hyper-critical and hyper-sensitive attitudes and behavior. The hope, friends, for improvement rests in the honest assessment and acknowledgment of what has transpired that ultimately brought us, as a nation, to the point where we find ourselves today.
It is a known fact that our great nation was founded by those who had a strong conviction in the existence of God. With a little research (Library of Congress Website), this writer learned that many scholars recognized that the first national government of the United States, the Continental-Confederation Congress, was guided by “covenant theology,” a doctrine which held that God had bound Himself in an agreement with a nation and its people, stipulating that they “should be prosperous or afflicted, according as their general Obedience or Disobedience thereto appears.” Accordingly, it was regarded that wars and revolutions were afflictions from God, as divine punishments for sin; and that a nation could rescue itself by repentance and reformation. Thus, year in and year out, Congress would urge its fellow citizens to repent “of their manifold sins” and strive that “pure undefiled religion, may universally prevail.”
With this mindset in government, it is no wonder why the United States would flourish to become the greatest nation on earth. Satan had a war on his hands, and he was losing ground; he was losing the battle. Then, sadly, Judges 2:10happened; and Satan gained a foothold, one in which he has not yet relinquished. What happened, you ask. Read Judges 2:1-9. When the nation of Israel, under the direction of Joshua, disobeyed God, they repented; and the record says: “the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” Then something happened:
“When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed” (Judges 2:10-15)
I ask you: “Is this not what has happened, and is happening, with us as a nation?” When God is taken out of the picture, all that is left is Satan; and when all that is good is gone, all that remains is evil. History always has a habit of repeating itself: it always has, and always will.
However, friends, though it now seems bleak, the battle is not lost – as far as God is concerned. We see this as we continue to read Judges 2. The hope for Israel, the hope for America, is revealed in the first three words of Judges 2:16, “Nevertheless, the Lord…” Isn’t that GREAT news? We have made some ungodly decisions and are moving in an ungodly direction; but the blind can see again, and the ignorant can (once again) understand, if only these three words serve as our daily motto: “Nevertheless, the Lord …”
To God Be The Glory Both Now And Forevermore, Amen
David Boren
