The Lord reminded us repeatedly in 2016 that if we, His people who are called by His name, would repent and turn from our wicked ways, He would save our nation. Many felt that His allowing Donald Trump to be elected President was proof that God had heard our prayers and that America had been spared. Once again, God’s laws would be upheld and our country back on track.
How many of us promised God that if He would save our land we would return to church, pray more, tell others about Him, etc., etc…. and how many of us have kept those promises? Election day for some of us felt like a pending death sentence or a prisoner already on death row, hoping for a miracle. God intervened, as governors sometimes do for criminals, and commuted our sentence. But have we repented? Did we keep all those promises and personally make an effort to draw closer to Jesus? Or have we, like prisoners often do, gotten our reprieve and quickly forgotten the reason we received a second chance? Are we guilty of practicing a jailhouse religion?
Many people are angry at the outcome of our election and determined that God’s ways and His laws will never again have a place in our society. President Trump is blocked at every attempt it seems by those who want to see him fail. Don’t they realize that failure for him also means failure for our country? But they don’t care…they didn’t vote for him. Society has become so accepting of so many sinful ways: sex before marriage, same-sex relationships, just to name a couple.
America has become a nation of investigators. Everything is looked into by the D.O.J., the FBI and others, but nothing is done. Justice has become an unreachable goal it seems. People are quick to point fingers, but no one is held accountable, no one pays for all the corruption. It just gets worse. Top secret information is leaked on a daily basis, the newspeople report rumors instead of facts. Any good news or hope is buried on the back pages of local papers or not reported at all.
How is God to help us, if we are not willing to help ourselves? Those of us who were truly sincere in our prayers and committed to turning our country back to God are still praying and doing our best to keep our promises. Vacation Bible Schools across the country are telling the good news of salvation to our kids….our future leaders. While politicians are saying that Christians have no business running for public offices, we are saying “Yes we can….and we will.” While some schools still oppose prayers and our pledge of allegiance, others are bringing them back.
Just as our President is met with opposition, so was Jesus and His disciples as the scribes and Pharisees waited to catch Him saying or doing something with which they could charge Him. He said in Luke 11:28: “blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. 29 This is an evil generation; they seek a sign; and there shall be no sign given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall the Son of man be to this generation.”
Today we need to rededicate ourselves to keeping the promises we made to do our part in bringing the Gospel to the unsaved world. America didn’t become what it is today in a few years so we can’t expect it to turn around in a few months. Let’s keep praying and making sure the progress is seen and reported on. Let’s not be guilty of practicing a jailhouse religion. God is at work in every area of our lives and as He promised will never leave or forsake us.