BRAVE: A 3-Day Devotional From Danny GokeySample

God Bless the USA

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.”

(‭‭Psalms‬ ‭33:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

3 questions to ponder:

Is our nation blessed?

What does it mean to be blessed?

How can we be a part of blessing our nation?

It’s one of those words we tend to throw around without much thought. Blessing can be described as enjoying the benefits of favor or mercy, such as the liberties we are afforded here in America. Just because we experience blessing doesn’t mean that it comes from God, however.

So what does it mean for a nation to be blessed by God?

It is tempting to claim Biblical promises about God blessing nations for ourselves. But in reality most of those were part of God’s covenant with His chosen people, Israel, and so-called blessings can easily turn into curses apart from God—the One from whom ALL blessings flow. The truth is, America is not even mentioned in the Bible. But that does not mean we can not still experience His blessing.

Galatians 3:8-9 reminds us that others can share Israel’s blessing because “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

It’s encouraging to remember that America can be blessed through our faith as the children of God. The question then becomes; Are we walking in the principles of God and being a conduit of blessing to our nation? The United States was founded on Biblical precepts, which paved the way towards freedom, liberty and justice for all. Over time, however, we have veered away from our firm foundation and exchanged Godly blessings for earthly ones. America has long been one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations. But all of that money and influence has and will keep corrupting us if we don’t keep God at the center. We must remember:

No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him,

on those whose hope is in His unfailing love,

to deliver them from death

and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in His holy name.
May Your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in You.
(Psalm 33:16-22)

We should absolutely pray for God to bless us as a nation, but our hope should not be in the blessings themselves. Our hope is in God alone, and no matter how precarious the state of our nation may seem, we His children are called to be a source of blessing as salt and light in these dark times. With full faith in Him, we CAN be proud to be Americans, as long as we make sure that pride is also paired with a humble acknowledgement that the blessings of freedom and beauty we enjoy would not be possible without God!