Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
In the U.S., we have a saying, “God bless America.” I love this statement and the heritage that comes with it, because it reminds us of the many godly people who came to this country and implored God’s blessings upon it. Our great success, as a nation, has come from God and His exaltation.
Today, in America, although many people still say that cherished statement, they don’t realize “how” God actually blesses and exalts a nation. Today’s Scripture reading states, “Righteousness exalts a nation,” because God will only exalt and bring success to those who do what is right by His standards. The proverb also teaches, “Sin condemns any people,” because God will never bless what He promised to judge and destroy.
For example, in Proverbs 6:17, King Solomon wrote that the Lord hates, “Hands that shed innocent blood.” Therefore, when America allows, by its law, the slaughter of unborn children in the womb (over 54 million since 1973), God will not continue to bless us until we repent and abolish this wicked infanticide. Furthermore, in the same passage, Solomon declared that God hates, “Haughty eyes, a lying tongue… a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil.” When we, as a nation, act in pride in our successes, have liars and devisors of wickedness in the White House and on Wall Street and possess a generation of young adults who are “quick to rush into evil,” we shouldn’t expect God’s blessing but, rather, His punishment. God said, in Psalm 9:17 (NKJV), “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
We should hold to God’s precious promise, in Proverbs 14:34, and live righteous, in America, so we can receive God’s exaltation and blessings in our nation.
As for whatever sins and evil deeds we’ve done, we should repent and plead for God’s mercy and forgiveness. Then, once we are forgiven and made holy by the blood of Jesus, we can rightly sing again, “God Bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above.”
REFLECTION
Are you doing your part for God to exalt and bless the nation you live in?
ACTION
- Repent of all sins you commit that bring a disgrace on your nation.
- Pray and repent for the sins of your nation (whether you do them or not) as Daniel interceded for the Jewish people in Daniel 9:4-19.
- Live righteous, by God’s grace, so God can exalt your nation.
