Monday, August 29, 2005

Does God still direct the affairs of nations?

Proverbs 14:34 states, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people".

What's this mean in todays affairs of state? Does God bless some countries and not others? Does he withdraw his blessings from countries when they turn to sin?

A few years ago, people got upset because Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said the attacks of 9/11 might have had something to do with the level of righteous, or lack of righteousness in our nation. Is that a possibility?

This is not to excuse the terrorists by any means. The book of Romans tells us that God institutes government to be a terror to evil doers.
(13:3) For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. (NIV)

I believe that God has granted the sword to the state to bring punishment upon those who commit public evil and so I support our governments attempt to find those who support the destruction of innocent life. I believe we are doing the right thing in confronting evil and bringing freedom to oppressed peoples.

Are we as a nation affecting the level of blessing by our descent into sin? I believe the Bible teaches this.

Most people do not have a problem with the thought that nations are blessed by God for obeying his word. However, just as the message of Jesus Christ is not only about heaven but also about hell, so also the Bible teaches that God curses nations for disobedience.

We have become so conditioned to a humanistic worldview that these ideas can sound shocking! How dare you bring God into the picture. Don't you know that a nations fate is based upon it's trade balance, the interest rates the Federal Reserve sets, the marginal tax rate and the state of the military? Oh really? The Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign in the affairs of men - including the nations.

Read the Old Testament and watch God sovereignly pick and choose kings. Watch him bring up the country of Babylon to punish Judah. Watch him punish the nation of Egypt for oppressing Israel.

Unless we believe that God has fallen asleep at the switch, or has become a different kind of God (which the book of James tells us never happens), then God is still directing the affairs of men today.

God has not revealed to me which sin he tolerates and which sin he condemns. I'm not going to say any particular disaster occured because of one sin or another. I believe that God judges all sin. However, I believe it's clear that we have, as a society lost much of our respect of God's law. We have clearly excluded him from our national intitutions. And you can read any list of sins you want, and you will find plenty of it going on.

As one famous author titled his book, "How should we then live?". This is the question each of us have to ask as we petition God in the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."