God Bless America

Missoula, Montana, from Mount Sentinel

The song, “God Bless America,” was written by Irving Berlin at the close of WW1 and put away until the rise of Adolph Hitler in 1938. He then resurrected it to serve as a song of peace and it became the signature song of Kate Smith. Interestingly, Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land” largely as a protest against “God Bless America.” Here are the lyrics to “God Bless America.”

While the storm clouds gather

far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance

to a land that’s free.

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices

in a solemn prayer.

God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her,

Through the night

with the light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans white with foam,

God bless America,

my home sweet home.

God bless America,

my home sweet home.

As a devout Christian, and an American, I certainly hope that God will bless America, and have offered “solemn prayers” toward that end. Many other American Christians have as well. But the fact of the matter is that while America may be special to those of us who are its citizens, it has no special significance to God over any other country in the world.

In the beginning of time, there were people who were noted by God in the Bible that seem to have been special to Him; Adam and Eve, Enoch, Noah, etc. Through this early history, God is laying out for us the chronology of people through whom the lineage of Jesus runs, some of the more notable ones being Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, and eventually, Abraham. Not before Abraham is the idea of a people belonging to God mentioned. But a promise is made to Abraham that he will give rise to a people who will be a nation (Genesis 12:2) and that they will be God’s people (Exodus 3:10.)

The Israelites became a nation in Canaan after the Exodus from Egypt. After the reign of Solomon, the nation divided into a Northern and Southern kingdom. Due to their intransigence against God’s commands, the Northern kingdom fell in 722 BC, and the Southern kingdom in 586 BC, never to be re-established as the divine nation of God’s people in the way they had existed before.

Paul speaks in Romans 9, 10, and 11 about how the Israelites are no longer God’s people in a religious sense as well as a physical sense. By and large, the entire book of Hebrews is about how God’s covenant with the Jews, i.e. Israel, has been replaced with something better. We know this something better as the church established by Jesus (Matt. 16:18) upon His death on the cross. (Heb. 9:17, Col. 2:14, Eph. 2:14-16.)

In Christ’s church there are no distinctions between people as there were under the old law in the Old Testament, i.e. Israelite nation, times. In those olden days, God had a specific people, the Israelites. They were special and those who were not children of Israel, were not Abraham’s seed, and were not children of God. The nation of Israel mattered. Now that Christ has established His church, the nation of Israel is of no consequence. “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs to the promise.” Gal. 3:26-29.

What is my point with all of this? Simply that at one time God had a nation that was definitely His people. He called them His people, 2 Chron. 7:14, but that system has been completed through Christ in His church and is no more. Now God recognizes as His people all of those, and only those, who are in Christ, that is, in His church.

Being an Israeli means nothing to God, because Israel means nothing to God since the establishment of Christ’s church. And if there is nothing special attached to being an Israeli, there is certainly nothing special attached to being an American. Please understand I am speaking specifically in religious terms here. What is special to God is the church that Christ built and nothing else. God does not see the world in terms of nations anymore. He did, when His people were a nation, but that time is gone.

We do ourselves a disservice to think that America is special to God. We do God a disservice as well because He has specifically made it plain that such is not the case. We do ourselves a disservice because we have an inflated opinion of ourselves as special to God (because of our nationality.) We are not.

Neither is our country. Already it is a country that our founders would not recognize and it is fast becoming one that my generation finds unrecognizable. This country, as with all nations that have ever been, will someday not exist as constituted. That day may not be that far into the future. Yes, there will still be people living here and there will be a country, but it will not be the one set up in 1776.

To you and me, this may be sad. To God, it is a matter of no consequence. He didn’t create America. He doesn’t need America. He doesn’t love America. He loves the people in America, just as He loves the people in Outer Mongolia.

My prayer for America is that our leaders will be attentive to Biblical concepts regarding right and wrong. My prayer for America is that truth and falsehood will be exposed for what they are and people will make their voting decisions based on what is true and what is false. My prayer is that the church will remain strong in this country so that America can be a base from which Christ’s church can continue to be a force throughout the world. My prayer is for all in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and honesty. And my prayer for myself, my family, and all of God’s people is that if the devil gains control of our earthly station that we may have the fortitude necessary to remain true to God.

And yes, I offer prayers of thanks that I was fortunate enough to have been born in this country where I have been free to worship God without fear and to live my life as a free man. I believe the founding fathers of this country blessed the earth by establishing it.

But I know neither this country nor those who inhabit it are special before God in ways that exist for no other country on earth. We are lucky beyond measure to be living here and for that we owe thanks. But we are no more special than the lowest of the low in the most unGodly place on the planet. Let us pray that we can be a country worthy of God’s blessing so that we can pray that God will bless America.