I heard a quote recently from Krista Bontrager that caught my attention:

“Christianity will survive without America, but America won’t survive without Christianity.

I think she’s one thousand percent correct.

Last week I had the privilege of teaching in our Tuesday morning Bible study at church. We are going through the Psalms of Ascent, historically sung by the Jewish people traveling to Jerusalem for religious festivals three times each year.

My passages were Psalms 127 and 128, both proverbial psalms full of practical wisdom, timeless spiritual truths, and the unchanging promises of God:

Psalm 127, most likely authored by King Solomon:

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”

House can mean…well, house, obviously, but it also can mean dwelling place or kingdom. It can also be used to describe a grave but we won’t go there today.

Anyway, the point is that unless God is front and center, being honored in how we live and how we build (be it a home, a career, a nation), all of our efforts will be in vain. Meaningless repetition was the synonym of vain that really hit for me (thank you, Key Word Study Bible!).

I found a couple nuggets online while doing research for Bible study:

“The American statesman Benjamin Franklin was not a Christian; he was a deist, though he appreciated Christians. He thought well of George Whitfield, the Calvinistic evangelist, for example. Franklin understood the futility of work without God and expressed it well in his “Speech to the Convention for Forming a Constitution for the United States,” delivered in Philadelphia in 1787:

‘In the beginning of the contest with Britain when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence. To that kind Providence we owe this opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived for a long time (81 years), and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall proceed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.’”

Good old Ben knew what he was talking about.

Also, interesting to me was this: the motto of Edinburgh , Scotland is “Nisi Dominus, Frustra,”which means “Without the Lord, Frustration.” If ever I were to cave and get a tattoo, this would be it. Truer words were never spoken, and I speak from experience when I say, “Been there, done that.”

When we live for ourselves, when we count our wisdom higher than God’s, when we think our plans outrank his- we will be frustrated at every turn.

God gives us boundaries for a reason. We are to worship him because nothing and no one else is worthy of our worship. We submit our will to his because he’s God and we are not. Whether it’s our marriage, our parenting, our corporate ambition ..God must be at the center or whatever we are building is doomed to fail.

Churches would do well to heed this warning.

So would governments.

Psalm 128

“Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!”

I love these promises, and I know them to be true. I have seen God reward steps of faith even in my own highly imperfect walk. I can think of one quick example:

I struggled with debt due to poor financial decisions in my twenties. Paying it off month by month, the “extra” after bills probably amounted to what you could find in your couch cushions. I had been supporting a few Compassion children as my “tithe” when I didn’t have a church home, but saw in Scripture and was convicted that my tithe was to go to the church first. I wasn’t going to stop the support to the kids, but I knew I needed to start obeying God, and I determined to do so the very next Sunday. I must have had the slowest week at work, because my ten percent was only twenty dollars (and even that hurt to give!), but I placed it in the offering bag as it traveled down my row.

An hour or two later, I attended a birthday party for my friend’s little boy. My friend’s mom was down from Northern Virginia, and after I hugged her she handed me an envelope my mom had sent down with her. It contained two hundred dollars. My mom never sends me money.

That was God.

God does not always bless us immediately for obedience, obviously, but you have to love when he shows himself like that. It strengthens your faith for the next step of obedience. He has proven faithful over and over again in my own life, and in the lives of friends. It’s so cool to watch.

Fear of God (a right view of his God-ness, his goodness, holiness, and power) is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7), and walking in wisdom and submission to God’s commands always leads to blessing: peace in knowing our good God, a joyful home, fruitfulness in all areas of life, and hope for the future.

We all have different circumstances and God blesses each of us uniquely. Life won’t be perfect this side of heaven, but living God’s way saves us from so much heartache.

Just as there are natural good consequences for doing things God’s way, there are natural bad consequences when we insist on doing things our own way.

Let’s be honest: Does anything good come when people lie, cheat, murder, steal, or practice sexual immorality? Of course not. Sin always leads eventually to brokenness and devastation. Period. Been there, done that.

When we practice what God warns us against, be it on a personal level or enshrining evil in the policies that shape our nation, we are foolish to expect anything other than disaster and judgment.

Nisi Dominus, Frustra.

So back to the quote by Krista Bontrager..will America survive as a post-Christian nation?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see fun times ahead if we continue on this trajectory. America has been blessed as a Christian nation, but as more people choose to build on the lie, “Any God but Jesus, any religion except Christianity” (shout out to Pastor Josh Howerton) we will fall.

It is what it is.

Maybe we will see revival and God will hold back his judgment for a time. He’s done it before. That would be great, and we hope and pray for that.

It’s not guaranteed.

Aren’t you thankful for Jesus?

No other God even comes close.

Because he died and rose again, proving he was God, we know we can trust him completely, even when the world looks scary. His word is true. His promises are true.

Those who put their faith in him are citizens of an unshakable kingdom and we can confidently say, “It’s going be ok.”

We pray continually.

We love radically .

We obey wholeheartedly.

We invite others to know the God who loves and created them and gave himself for them.

God is real and his promises are true.

He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies.

The gates of hell WILL NOT prevail against the house the Lord is building..his church.

Build there, on his promises, even as you build your own family, your own home, your career. Build God’s kingdom in your children and in your neighborhood and your schools, and trust him every step of the way.

Angela

https://youtu.be/IYs4baSxdFA?si=ijcDa_7ewUZdgQ5I