“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD . . . (Ps. 33: 12a).  This past July 4th marked 233 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Since the courageous signing of that bold and assertive document, it is obvious that as a nation we have indeed left the principles and moorings, which served to help make us the great nation we have become.

I love my country; I love the flag that represents the United States of America.  “I pledge allegiance one nation under God...”  I enjoy the songs that strike a patriotic nerve in my heart.  I look forward to the celebrations that take place around this time.  I hope I never take for granted the cost and sacrifice of the many lives that now makes America the greatest place to live on earth.  America is indeed the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Considering the verse I cited from Psalm 33: 12, I realize the historical context must be given preference in obtaining the correct meaning.  The verse is to Israel and the people of God whom He has graciously chosen as His own.  With that understood, there are some principles of application that we can glean as the people of God, the church, who live in America.  Listen to words of the first commandment God to gave to His people: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  Correlations can be made with the first commandment and Ps. 33: 12.

From commandment number one, we are told very explicitly not to have any other gods before the True and Living God of the Bible.  As Christians, it is certainly easy for us to have other gods before the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are so many gods to choose from.  Many of these gods are subtle and many are more obvious.  You can choose from the gods of pleasure and materialism, which ultimately leads to self-gratification and greed.  There are also the gods of complacency and compromise, which inevitably leads to worldliness and corruption.  In fact, if we place anything or anyone above the Lord Jesus and our love for Him we are guilty of the sin of idolatry in our lives, a violation of commandment number one.  The Lord Jesus reiterates that truth in Matthew 22: 34-40 (Mk. 12: 28-34; Lk. 10: 25-37).

The psalmist states very clearly that God will bless the nation whose God is the LORD.  By way of digression, keep in mind how the psalmist spells the word LORD.  He uses all capital letters.  Whenever you read that spelling in the text, you are reading literally the personal name for God, which is Yahweh.  We have transliterated the word to Jehovah from various translations.

How should we think of our nation in the context of Psalm 33: 12?  Obviously, America has never been a pure Christian nation anymore than Israel was ever entirely godly.  America does, however, have strong Christian roots and deep foundations in the Bible, God, and truth.  America was blessed by God in its early history because in large measure her God was the LORD.  In those early days of our country, large numbers of people sought God fervently.  God heard and God blessed our nation in great ways.

Sadly, our country presently is anything but Christian; in fact, it is militantly secular.  We have grown to become a “me” oriented nation which is certainly seeping its way into our churches.  We have government-funded abortions, abortion on demand, the institution of marriage between a man and a woman has been brought into question, the ongoing wave of liberalism in our churches, and the ever present shift to the left on political matters.  As this tide continues, what will become of the nation whose God must be the LORD.

I love this great land we call America.  As a husband, father, and now grandfather, pastor, and Christian, by the grace of God, I am going to endeavor not to be guilty of breaking the first commandment.  A young scribe came to Jesus with this question: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 36-39).