America Under Bondage
“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.” Exodus 2:23
For much of the history of ancient Israel, the people of God lived under bondage to another nation. Some of their masters were the Egyptians, Amorites, Canaanites, Moabites, Philistines, Babylonians, Persians, and the Romans. Each time that they were enslaved to one of their enemies, the reason was always the same: disobedience to the LORD and the abandonment of their part of the covenant that He made with them many years before with Abraham and Moses. God’s people were under captivity by Babylon for 70 years, but Israel was part of the Roman empire for over 500 years. I didn’t go back and add up the number of years that they were enslaved by all of their enemies, but it was a substantial length of time in which God’s people were not free.
The thought came to me as I was studying the scriptures that we here in the U.S. are also under bondage. Of course, with the vast majority of folks who are not born again in Christ, sin is the enemy which captures folks and keeps them under Satan’s yoke. Without Christ there is no real freedom. We are not under the thumb of some other nation, at least not for now, but who knows what the future holds for America? As we continue down that slippery slope from the founder’s actions to enable America’s first settlers to worship freely and to base our country’s constitution on those inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to our present day as people shake their fist in God’s face, daring Him to challenge their right to do as much evil as they please, how much further can we descend into depravity and ungodliness before God brings the hammer down?
The notion that men can have babies is so preposterous that it is almost laughable if it wasn’t so anti-Biblical. I ran across a verse in Jeremiah as God was describing the future time of tribulation that will come upon the earth. Life will be so difficult that God described the anguish of men by asking if a man could experience labor pains like a woman about to give birth? (Jeremiah 30:6). He was comparing the fear, anguish, and pain that strong, brave men would have because of the calamity coming upon them. He basically asked if men could give birth, and knowing that was absurd and impossible, He wanted to know why they were holding their bellies in pain as a woman about to give birth. God made women to have babies, not men. Men were not made physically or mentally to give birth, and all of them who are in their right mind do not want to experience all which women endure to be able to give birth. It is a joy, for sure, but it is also very painful and stressful. There are some men who can’t even handle a bad cold so just imagine how they would act when the contractions begin! (No offense to those men who deal with their illness and pain.)
We wonder why God doesn’t go ahead and bring judgment upon America, but I believe that He already is. I think that the fact that things are so far off base to America’s original founding, and that we are being led by those who are displaying such ungodly behavior, promoting evil policies, and trying to suppress (cancel) those who desire to return this nation to godliness, could be God’s judgment upon our nation. He may just let us destroy ourselves. Thank God, though, that we can find relief, rescue, redemption, and restoration in Christ. As the people of Israel came to the realization that the ball was in their court, and that they had to humble themselves and cry unto God for release from their bondage, America, too, must repent and turn to Christ if the bondage of sin is ever going to be broken.