BLESSED IS THE NATION that God favors; cursed is the nation that refuses the will of God. Israel was, and is, such a nation, both blessed and cursed. “The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: ‘Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God.” (2 Kings 17:13-14)
The history of Israel in the land of the promise is marked by both the highs and the lows of faith and obedience to God, not just once, but through on-going cycles. They were blessed coming into the land upon deliverance from slavery in Egypt. They were cursed, removed from the land during the Assyrian captivity (8 th C. B.C.), and blessed in their return. They were cursed and removed from the land in the Babylonian captivity (6 th C. B.C.), and blessed in their return. They were cursed and removed from the land in their world-wide dispersion under Roman rule in 68-70 B.C.; they began returning to the land in 1948 A.D. as they were blessed to become a nation again after some two thousand years. The key point in their fall from grace always centered in their propensity towards syncretism—the worship of many gods. “They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.” (2 Kings 17:16)
The history of Christianity follows these same patterns in the fortunes and fates of nations. The Roman empire, centered in Italy, embraced Christianity and rose to the height of its power, only to fall away from obedience, and to fall apart as a nation. And God moved on. The Byzantine empire rose to power, and Christianity thrived then also, but with mounting pressure from Islam from the East, they too fell. And God moved on. Christianity rose to power in many of the nation-states of Eastern and Western Europe over the next millennium, but they would all suffer the same fate. And God continued to move on. He moved on through the Protestant Reformation in western Europe beginning in the 16 th C., which took hold there during that time, including expansion into America by 1607, now a period of four centuries.
There is ample evidence that the old patterns are being repeated. The awe-inspiring cathedrals of the European continent, some dating back to the medieval ages, are largely empty now, with many of them converted to mercantile shops. The Pilgrims who planted the cross on the sandy beaches of Virginia in 1607, and who were so responsible for shaping the minds and character of the men who wrote the declaration of independence in 1776, would not recognize the character of the nation as it exists today. And as it was in ancient Israel, so again today it remains: “They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God. So the Lord was angry.” (2 Kings 17:16, 18)
In every one of these nations, a promise of God was available as a lifeline to better times, a better way, a better life: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7:14) The heartfelt unified cry of anguished believers had (and has) the power to reclaim God’s promise to the nation. It is clear from scripture that God takes vital interest in the progress of nations, and has the power to either curse or bless. “The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.” (Psa. 33:10-12)
Q. What if the fate of your nation rested in your hands clasped in prayer?
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