Of course, we also owe our heartfelt thanks to every man and woman who has worn the uniform in serving and protecting this land. Hundreds of thousands have paid the ultimate price in gaining and preserving our freedoms. We salute them all, knowing that we would have nothing to celebrate if not for their sacrificial efforts on our behalf.
Most of all, we have the Lord God to thank for what He has done for us. Because our nation’s fathers sought the Lord’s help and relied upon His providential hand for victory, God has rewarded their faith and blessed us richly. Indeed, in a way similar to how God promised His blessings upon His people Israel, we’ve seen His grace shed upon us: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His heritage” (Psalm 33:12a)!
It is amazing to read in the Old Testament of how God promised such incredible blessings to Israel for their obedience to His ways, while also warning them of the grave dangers that would come from disobedience. If you read Deuteronomy chapter 8 you’ll see how God longs for His people to follow Him and receive His grace.
In that text God speaks through Moses, saying: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you” (Deut. 8:7-10).
This Scripture is obviously given to Israel as they were nearing their entry into the Promised Land, but to me it’s not too difficult to see the parallels in our nation’s history. What other nation besides Israel has been so blessed as America has been? We have had it so good here, and we have the Lord our God to bless for the good land He has given us.
With that said, in the very next breath Moses also issued a warning to Israel: “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and your gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt…Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth…And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God” (Deut. 8:11-14, 17, 19-20).
Is that not a warning that we need to heed in 21st century America?! By the way, God eventually did bring His judgment upon Israel when they forgot the Lord their God, when they rebelled against His ways, and served and worshiped other gods. After sending many prophets to call the nation back to Him, and after pouring out His kindness and steadfast love toward His people, God used the Babylonians to capture and destroy Jerusalem, as many were put death and some carried into exile out of the land of Judah.
How will history record America’s story? Will the people of this nation return in faithfulness and obedience to the ways of the Lord our God? Or will we forget His commands, boast in ourselves, and suffer the ruin of a once richly-blessed land?
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