Two Nations in One

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain”  Psalm 127:1

The original blog for this verse was posted over two years ago.  Nothing has changed; it has only gotten worse.  I don’t think that I have ever seen in my lifetime our nation so divided as it is now.  Of course, I wasn’t around during the Civil War, and the folks who were living then probably said the same thing.  I can remember when I was in elementary school, we were fearful that the USSR would bomb us at any time, and thus we had practice drills in school.  We would go out into the hallways and get down on our knees and cover our heads with our hands and arms.  Sometimes mothers would volunteer to drive us to a location about ten miles away.  We would pack those cars and head toward another small town.  We didn’t care because we were out of class.  Most of us at our young age didn’t really understand what the “big deal” was.  In the city where I live, there is a major defense facility and would have been a direct target of an atom bomb.  Even though we were ten miles away, we would have been obliterated.  I don’t know what the adults were thinking at the time.  I guess they determined that if such an event occurred, they had to do something even if it was futile.

In a recent conversation with a lady who grew up in Eastern Europe under communism, she said that, as a child in school, they did the same exercise, except that they were told that the capitalists were going to bomb them.  Unscrupulous leaders attempt to control the masses by fear.  A people in fear will allow things that they wouldn’t allow if they were courageous and understood the price of freedom.  Fast forward to today.  We are still told that Russia is our biggest threat, and others tell us that it is China.  Some blame the President, or past Presidents, Congress, local politicians, the police, or universities.  You name it and someone will point the finger of blame at it.  Too many folks believe that politics is the answer, but President Reagan said that government is not the solution, it is the problem.  Our nation which was founded on the laws of God and the right to worship without government interference or regulation cannot continue as a viable and free nation unless we turn back to the LORD and give Him the honor and respect that He deserves.

However, I fear that we have gone so far away from God that many of our troubles are the result of His judgment upon us.  I grieve for our country, but know that there are some who, like the 7,000 people in I Kings 19:18 who had not sold out to the ungodly but had maintained their allegiance and loyalty to God, have not surrendered to the ways of the world nor given in to the enemy.  I don’t know the number of those who today refuse to compromise, and with God’s help, I sure want to be one of them.

One other thing that the lady from Eastern Europe said was that she and her family were very fearful of our government instituting socialism.  Socialism attempts to replace God with government.  We have already seen the effects of that since this pandemic began.  Many are worried that the limitations imposed on churches, businesses, and schools will continue even after this pandemic passes.  It is up to all of us who love freedom to be courageous and obey God’s law whenever man’s law opposes it.  The best thing that we, as people of God, can do is to be on our knees in prayer.