Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord. –Psalm 33:12
Some years ago, I ran across a report by social scientists
who were trying to answer the question of why the United States of America was
so prosperous in comparison to other nations in our hemisphere. They had taken
a look at Mexico, Central America and South America and compared them to our
own land and found that although the U.S. was not that much different from the
perspective of the abundance of fresh water and natural resources, we were
centuries ahead of our counterparts in wages, education, technology, influence,
military power, healthcare, science, etc.... Why did the U.S. become this great
world leader while other nations of the New World remained in near third-world
status for so much of history?
The answer they came up with was rather enlightening. It had
to do with the attitudes and motives of the earliest settlers of these regions.
When European settlers and explorers entered regions south of what would later
become the U.S., their motivation was the search for wealth. Quite simply, they
were seeking gold. These people were
self-centered. They ravaged the land, destroyed people, and stole to develop
these lands. They were seeking wealth and they discovered it and the dangers
that come with great wealth. These
nations were founded on greed, power, deceit, and dishonesty.
However, when European settlers reach the eastern seaboard
of North America, they were not in search of wealth, they were seeking freedom;
specifically, freedom to worship God as they chose. One could say that while
the rest of the hemisphere was searching for Gold, the Pilgrims and other
settlers were searching for God. They
found great wealth when they found God.
The unsurpassed joy that Jesus offers His followers is everlasting. It
does not fade away. It begins with an
acknowledgement that, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness
thereof.” (Psalm 24:1) Everything is a gift from our loving and
Provident Father. We don’t possess it. We merely borrow it. If we count our
blessings, our joy will know no bounds.
While I’m sure there are many other factors as to why our
land has been so blessed, I do know that our founding fathers were men of great
faith and the nation they hacked out of the wilderness was founded on the
principles of God’s word and a sincere desire for creating a nation that would
honor Him.
America, America, God
shed His grace on thee, and crowned thy good with brotherhood from sea to
shining sea. (K.L. Bates)
Scripture to Claim:
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm
and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
