America Is On The Decline
This past season of inclement weather, I spent numerous Saturday mornings in our local Starbucks, lounging in a deep easy chair, sipping legal stimulants and reading David McCullough’s 1776. It is the history of the birth of our nation recounting the miraculous process of nation building through the arduous scouring of historical documents and personal letters of the American fathers. Their vision and courage to see us free from foreign bondage was, I am convinced, supernatural.
I am currently reading McCullough’s subsequent historical narrative on the life of John Adams. Two things have emerged repeatedly with this backwards glance at our nation’s past. First, the spirit of a people who faced impossible odds of success, were instilled with a profound sense of self sacrifice and the blessing of God Almighty. The spirit of America was clearly different then than it is now and I don’t believe we will ever return to such days of valor and selfless giving for the sake of the common good.
The second thing that I am noting as I read John Adams that a mere 20 years into the newly formed republic, politics, in the worst nuances of the word, were already showing the earmarks of self absorbed power grabbing at the expense of the union and the common good.
We are now 230 years after the fact of that neonatal nation and we have grown past our prime and have entered the golden years; a euphemism for the aging and debilitated vestige of a country once great—great because it truly had at its core, a keen understanding that there was a God, and to ignore Him was to hasten one’s demise.
Regarding God’s people Nehemiah wrote, "And they captured fortified cities and a fertile land. They took possession of houses full of every good thing, hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled, and grew fat, and reveled in Thy great goodness. "But they became disobedient and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their backs and killed Thy prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to Thee, and they committed great blasphemies. (Nehemiah 9:25-26)
On the eve of the celebration of our independence from tyranny, let us weep for what once was, and let us rejoice for what lays ahead for those, who by faith, understand that God is still on the throne and have bowed before Him in humble allegiance.
I am currently reading McCullough’s subsequent historical narrative on the life of John Adams. Two things have emerged repeatedly with this backwards glance at our nation’s past. First, the spirit of a people who faced impossible odds of success, were instilled with a profound sense of self sacrifice and the blessing of God Almighty. The spirit of America was clearly different then than it is now and I don’t believe we will ever return to such days of valor and selfless giving for the sake of the common good.
The second thing that I am noting as I read John Adams that a mere 20 years into the newly formed republic, politics, in the worst nuances of the word, were already showing the earmarks of self absorbed power grabbing at the expense of the union and the common good.
We are now 230 years after the fact of that neonatal nation and we have grown past our prime and have entered the golden years; a euphemism for the aging and debilitated vestige of a country once great—great because it truly had at its core, a keen understanding that there was a God, and to ignore Him was to hasten one’s demise.
Regarding God’s people Nehemiah wrote, "And they captured fortified cities and a fertile land. They took possession of houses full of every good thing, hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled, and grew fat, and reveled in Thy great goodness. "But they became disobedient and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their backs and killed Thy prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to Thee, and they committed great blasphemies. (Nehemiah 9:25-26)
On the eve of the celebration of our independence from tyranny, let us weep for what once was, and let us rejoice for what lays ahead for those, who by faith, understand that God is still on the throne and have bowed before Him in humble allegiance.
posted by PB at 11:44 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home