Can God Bless America?
God does not enjoy punishing people. He always sends someone to warn the people of their sin and call them to repentance. For example, He spoke these words through Ezekiel. “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ezek. 18:30-32)
But God is holy and just and does not tolerate the sin of man forever. After much patience and adequate warning, He will unleash His wrath.
During one of ancient Israel’s most idolatrous times, God sent the prophet Amos to warn them of their wicked ways and the coming wrath of the Almighty. As always, God sent Amos with this message as a call to repentance.
There are striking similarities in the conduct of ancient Israel and America today. While God has not chosen America as His nation in the same way He did Israel, America has claimed the LORD as her God. And though these prophecies were given to Israel, we should expect that God would say the same to us today, for God does not change. Let’s look at just a few verses from the prophecies of Amos and see if we should not take heed to the warnings given to God’s people.
Many today say they are longing for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. They pray for His return to be soon. They eagerly wait for that day because they believe themselves to be innocent. Therefore, they see the Lord’s return as a very good thing. The people of Israel had the same false sense of security in Amos’ day and they too longed for the coming of the Lord. But God set them strait concerning the day of the Lord.
Amos 5:18-20, “Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?”
Why was the day of the Lord’s coming going to be so opposite to what they were expecting? Because their sin was great and they were completely blind to it. Look at how God viewed their religious activities.
Amos 5:21-24, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”
Like many churches today, Israel was conducting their religious services right on schedule. But their daily lives did not match the ways of the One they claimed to worship. Therefore, their worship services were nothing more than tradition and ritual. A stench in the Lord’s nostrils.
Because they were blind to their sin and the hypocrisy of their religion, they felt secure in their relationship with God. For this reason, they grew complacent. This was especially true of the leaders, both spiritual and civil. But God sets them straight on the matter.
Amos 6:1-2, “Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! Go to Calneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?”
God pointed out the greatness of their nation and His blessing on them. The same can be said of America today. She is the greatest nation on earth. But look at the striking similarities in behavior in these next few verses.
Amos 6:3-8, “You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror. You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself—the LORD God Almighty declares: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”
The people were relaxing in their luxury and indulging themselves on their wealth, while feeling no grief over their sin. They were full of pride and felt secure in their fortresses. America has sunk to this same level in these later years. We have “fattened ourselves in the day of slaughter.” People who couldn’t care less about God shout “God Bless America!” as a cheer. But can God bless America while she lives in such idolatry and rebellion against the Most High? She is drunk with pride, and trusts in her military might rather than in the Almighty.
Next, God addresses their mistreatment of and lack of concern for the poor, their eagerness for wealth, their greed and dishonesty. Like most Americans, they could not wait for their religious activities to be over so they could get to work making and spending money.
Amos 8:4-7, “Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.””
All one has to do is tune in to the news or read the papers to see that America is guilty on all accounts, just as Israel was. Do we honestly believe God will not judge us for such blatant sin? Rather than chanting “God Bless America” we should be on our knees begging His forgiveness and healing.
Finally, God makes clear there is no escape from His wrath for the unrepentant sinner. He will hunt down and punish those who do evil in His sight and refuse to repent.
Amos 9:1-4, “I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.””
Now I know some will say, “But that was in the Old Testament. God doesn’t operate that way today. We are under grace.” If that’s what you believe then meditate on these verses from the New Testament.
Heb. 10:26-31, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
But as I said at the beginning, God takes no pleasure in punishing us. His desire is that we repent. Therefore, I leave you with these words from the Lord God Almighty.
Ezek. 33:10-11, ““Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’”
