I can’t help but find it amusing when I hear people debating as to whether or not America was founded on God. It is easy to get drawn into such a debate, quoting our forefathers or recognizing a particular passage from a document. The truth of the matter is that ALL nations are founded on God because God is sovereign over the entire earth. America is founded on God. ISIS is founded on God. Russia is founded on God…
Whether or not a nation chooses to recognize God as sovereign is at the crux of the issue. The Bible is filled with stories of how nations who fail to recognize God as sovereign fall in utter destruction brought on by their allegiance to pride and lust. God, in His loving mercy, allows these nations to experience the pain that comes from lust, pride, envy, and dependence on everything but God. This is merciful because it is God’s attempt at opening the eyes of His people so that they can see the One on whom their total devotion should lie…enabling them to devote themselves entirely to Him, the one who brings everlasting peace, hope, and love.
This also correlates with us as individuals. Do we see God as sovereign over our lives? What happens when we depend only on ourselves, depending on the things of this earth to bring us happiness: money, material possessions, sex, food, drugs, alcohol, work…..?? We find that any happiness is fleeting, and we are left only wanting more and more. We never find that place of peace in our souls that only God can bring. We get so caught up in ourselves, our happiness, our pain…that we fail to see anyone or anything else. We live a live devoted to self…a life that will end in destruction unless we open our eyes and give our hearts to God.
The Old Testament is filled with stories of God’s wrath, and many an Atheist will point out those passages as evidence of a God who is anything but loving. Even many Christians grapple with the whys of it at times. The wrath of God comes upon people who God desires as His own. He is a jealous God. He is our maker and has no desire to share His creation with things that will only cause His creation to implode upon itself. He gives warnings, allows pain and suffering, and shatters the plans of people and nations so that their eyes will be opened to focus on Him solely.
Only a loving God would care enough to give people chance after chance to find the path to true love and total peace. Birth only comes after significant pain.
Cheryl A. Williams (2011)
