Author: John Page 134 of 167

Daniel 4:32 “And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”

Whatever earthly thing is the object of our trust, it pales in comparison to God’s trustworthiness.  Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way that his trust should have been in the Lord all along.  It is said that the best lessons are learned through experience, though we should all prefer that these hard lessons be learned through someone else’s experience and not our own.  May we thus learn from the experience of the powerful Nebuchadnezzar.

“The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.”  In spite of our current national proclivity towards self-sufficiency, this self-sufficiency is misplaced.  It certainly was for the King of Babylon, who learned the hard way that the Lord can give rule to “whomsoever He will.”  There are only two options in leadership as in life, trusting in God or becoming wholly subservient to the things you trusted in previously.

As we elect our leaders, we must recognize that their misplaced trust has a substantial impact on us as well.  As they follow the source of their trust, the nation follows along.  That source of trust can either bring us closer to the Lord or closer to dwelling with the beasts of the field.  The preferred option is obvious, but not always starkly considered in the context of our political choices.  It should be.

PLEASE VOTE AND PRAY AS IF THE DIRECTION OF OUR LAND HANGS IN THE BALANCE.  It does!

Psalm 20:7 “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”

Peter Marshall, chaplain of the United States Senate during the 1940s, prayed the following:

“Bless this land that we love so much, our Father, and help her to deposit her trust, not in armies and navies, in wealth and material resources, or in achievements of the human mind, but in that righteousness which alone exalteth any nation, and by which alone peace can finally come to us.  This we ask in that name that is above every name, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.  Amen.”

No matter the strength of a military, the size of an economy, the scale of an educational system, or the persuasiveness of a diplomatic corps, a nation cannot be great unless trust is placed in the One to whom all human constructs are subservient.  A deposit of trust in the Lord is the only wise investment.  Our trust in the Lord is the only way that our nation can be exalted once again.

At all times, we should pray for our leaders to recognize that they must place their trust in the Lord above all else.  During this election season, we must vote for leaders who already do.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN LEADERS WOULD DEPOSIT THEIR TRUST IN GOD ALONE.  Without such a deposit, our investments will always underperform.

EXTRA THOUGHT:  This past Saturday I celebrated ten years of salvation.  Praise God!  The following is the link to an article I wrote five years ago outlining my testimony:  http://www.bimi.org/newsletterGi/gi209.php

Psalm 33:10 “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.”

President Adams, speaking to members of the military, stated the following:

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

We bemoan a government whose counsels are brought to nought, whose governance is ineffectual.  Yet, such a condition should come as no surprise to a nation unbridled by morality and religion.  Our Constitution is inadequate for such a context.  Our vote, without adherence to Christian principle, would be similarly inadequate.

Christians, hopeful for change, must erase the mistaken perspective that there should be a separation between our values and our votes.  Our Constitution was never designed with such a separation in mind, and will produce nothing of value if the current chasm continues.  PLEASE PRAY THAT CHRISTIANS WOULD CLING TO VALUE-BASED VOTING.  Through our votes and our prayers, we must bridle our nation and return to a fear of the Lord.

I Timothy 4:8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

In what is known as his ‘Farewell Address’ President Washington wrote the following:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

President Washington recognized the important principle that neither the pious man nor the mere politician should neglect the tie between religion, morality, prosperity, and felicity.  Anyone who would subvert religious practice and moral principle or disrespect the foundational roles they play in national well-being would claim patriotism in vain.  We must remember this important admonition as we cast our votes.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD VOTE WITH CHRISTIAN MORALITY AS THEIR PRIMARY BASIS.  Godliness is profitable unto all things, and our nation must immediately reaffix itself to the indispensible supports of Christian morality and religion.  Public and private felicity hang in the balance.

Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”

Founding Father John Jay said:

“No human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian Religion allied and accepted by all the classes. Should our Republic ere forget this fundamental precept of governance, men are certain to shed their responsibilities for licentiousness and this great experiment will surely be doomed.”

American citizens grieve when leaders shed their responsibilities for licentiousness.  We are sorrowful that the great experiment of our nation appears doomed.  Yet, we rarely consider the important truth that this experiment was never to be founded upon anything other than Christ.  Blessings are to flow from faithfulness, not from freedom.

In this great experiment, Christian moral precepts were interwoven into our society.  Similarly, they are to be interwoven into our political consideration.  They are to be interwoven into our votes.  They are to be interwoven into those for whom we should vote.

We must be weary of ourselves when we set aside our moral precepts as we enter the voting booth.  We must be weary of those who claim that their moral precepts are not factors in their public policy.  We must be weary of our nation when we cling to anything other than Christian principles as a fundamental precept of governance.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN LEADERS, ELECTED OR UP-FOR-ELECTION, TO EMBRACE CHRISTIAN MORAL PRECEPTS UNDIVIDED FROM THEIR PUBLIC PERSONA.  Our votes can steady a staggering nation by returning us to a Christian foundation.  Blessings can replace impending doom, but only by putting the Lord first.