Can God Bless America
When What She
Deserves is Judgment?
Commentary by Dr. David J. Vaughan  

 Each Independence Day, we celebrate our victory over British tyranny and commemorate our establishment as an independent republic.  Yet, amidst all the fireworks and flag waving, many Christians are finding it increasing difficult to celebrate America and to sing (or pray) “God Bless America.”
“How can God bless America when the land is polluted with sins?” they ask.  “Abortion on demand claims over a million innocent lives a year.  Easy divorce has legitimized adultery.  Homosexuals parade in the streets.  Pornography is a billion dollar business.  Not to mention the drunkenness, drug abuse and gambling that goes unpunished and undenounced.”  In a word, “Can God bless America when what she deserves is judgment?”
               Before answering that question, it is important to note that those who find it difficult to pray for God’s blessing on our land have rightly identified our glaring national sins.  Moreover, they are to be commended for defining sin according to biblical standards, and for acknowledging that God frowns on, and justly punishes, all sins – even the sins of America.  God is righteous, and we are not exempt from His omniscient scrutiny.  He sees our wickedness and He will call us to account.  We cannot expect to sin with impunity because we wrap ourselves in the American flag.
               There is no doubt, then, that America deserves to be judged.  Nevertheless, we must remember that God’s justice is tempered by His mercy, and that His long-suffering restrains His wrathful hand.  Indeed, God is so reluctant to punish mankind that the prophet Isaiah refers to God’s wrath as His “strange work.”  And elsewhere in the Scriptures we are told that God is abundant in mercy and slow to anger.  “He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.”  (Micah 7:18) 
               Surely, if God delights in mercy then we are warranted in praying for it.  And when we pray for mercy we are praying for God to bless America.  For mercy is a blessing.  Some who object to praying for God to bless America seem to think that by praying so they are claiming that America is righteous.  But that is not the case.  When we pray for God to bless America we are not saying that she deserves it.  Rather, we are acknowledging that without God’s blessing our nation cannot prosper.  To pray for God to bless America, then, is not a proclamation of righteousness; it is an admission of weakness.  And for those who pray for mercy, it is an admission of sinfulness.  We are not praying with closed eyes as if we do not see what we deserve.  We deserve punishment; that is why we pray for mercy.
               While it is lawful to pray for mercy, we must likewise pray in a spirit of total submission to God’s will.  He may choose to show us mercy; but then again, He may not.  He may, in fact, send dire judgment.  Does that mean, therefore, that we were wrong in praying for mercy? No, not at all.  For temporal judgment itself may be a blessing.  When God’s rod strikes a nation, it is both an opportunity and a means for repentance and renewal.  After 9/11, how many people flocked to church or prayed to God?  As the very buildings came tumbling down, people could be seen falling on their knees in the streets, crying out to God.  When we pray for God to bless America, therefore, we are not necessarily asking Him to refrain from judgment.  We are only asking Him to remember His mercy amidst judgment, should He choose to send it.
               Those who have the most vivid sense of God’s holiness will still find it hard to pray for God to bless America because of her sin.  Yet, we must not forget the teaching of both Jesus and Paul.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His disciples: “Love your enemies, do good to them who hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you.”  To bless and pray for those who curse us is, in effect, to pray for a blessing on those who are evil.  But how can we do this?  Does God bless evil?  Believe it or not, Jesus answered “yes.”  For He clearly taught His followers that we are to pray for the wicked “so that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  In other words, God showers blessings not only on the righteous, but also on the unrighteous – those who most certainly don’t deserve it.
               Jesus also taught us in the same Sermon to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”  Now, let me ask you a question: if you were still in your unregenerate condition, would you want Christians praying for God to condemn you or to bless you?  Would you then (or even now for that matter) want Christians praying for you to get what you deserved?  God forbid.  Don’t forget that when the apostles James and John wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans for not receiving Christ, Jesus “turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”  (Lk. 9:55-56)  Those who are so sure that God can’t bless America should beware lest they adopt the spirit of a Pharisee and not the spirit of Christ.
               In addition to the teaching of Christ (which ought to be enough), we have the teaching of the Apostle Paul, who instructed the Church thus: 

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. (1 Tim 2:1-8)

            When Paul penned these words it is very possible that Nero himself was on the throne.  Yet, Paul urged the Church to pray and to give thanks for all those in civil authority.  And if Paul could be thankful for the Roman government and the civil protections it provided him, then how much more should we be thankful for our American government, our freedoms, our rights and even our Christian heritage?

            Yes, we can pray for God to bless America.  Not because she is righteous; she is not.  Not because she deserves it; she does not.  But simply because to pray for God’s blessing on our nation is to acknowledge in prayer that, as we have received mercy of the Lord, so we desire the same for our countrymen.  It is to acknowledge that the spirit of Christ is a spirit of compassion more than judgment.  And finally, it is to acknowledge that although America may deserve the most severe judgment of God, He showers His blessings on both the righteous and wicked, knowing that it is “the goodness of God that leads to repentance.”  (Rom. 2:4) 

            May we pray in this manner, and may God bless America.

 
Dr. David Vaughan is the pastor of Liberty Christian Church in O'Fallon, MO, an accomplished author (his books can be found on Amazon.com), one of the hosts of the talk show Encounter heard on Christian Radio Station KSIV AM 1320 and Consulting Editor for the St. Louis MetroVoice.