Sunday afternoons are usually spent watching baseball or football or golf, waiting for evening church services. Rather than feel like I'm wasting time, I've decided to start blogging on these Sunday afternoons. Until I can come up with a series title better than this, they will just be called Sunday Thoughts. I think the message below the title needs more thought than the title anyway.
It's a beautiful Sunday here in Northeast Texas, so I'm writing from my parents' back porch as my puppy climbs all over me wanting to help with typing today's post. Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of one of the most tragic moments in American history. Fifteen years ago, this nation lost 2,977 souls of every race, religion, creed, etc. Some of those souls were without Christ, which is a huge tragedy in my eyes. Anytime there is mass death, whether from a human with a weapon or from a natural disaster, I mourn for the lost souls, the lost opportunity to make followers of Christ.
Obviously, this morning's service centered around observing the events of September 11, 2001. Last night, I was preparing the powerpoint for services. We project the words of each song we are singing, which means my job is to type those words from the hymnal. As I was typing the National Anthem, contemplating the controversy around its presence at athletic events, I actually read the second verse.
"O thus be it ever when free men shall stand/Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;/Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land/Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!/Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;/And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"/And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave/O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
Now, in recent years our nation's leaders have pounded their podiums and hatefully stated that America is not a Christian nation. Facebook crusaders have taken to their Wikipedia pages and "proven" that America was not founded as a Christian nation because of one quote they found from one of our founding fathers. You can have your belief, but my belief is that quotes like the second verse of our national anthem prove that this nation was, in fact, founded by God-fearing men and women and on Christian principles.
I also believe that this second verse gives us some insight into what may be a factor in the potential downfall of our nation. As we draw further and further away from giving to praise to the One Who has had His protective hand over our nation, that protective hand is also drawing further and further away. It's happened before to God's own people.
In 1 Samuel 28, we are told of a gathering of Philistenes who intended to go to war with Israel. Previously, Saul had disobeyed God in dealing with the Amelekites and even tried to blame the Israelites for Saul's disobedience. Saul's actions in direct disobedience toward God severed the communication between Saul and God. God had decided to remove Saul as king of Israel. As the Philistenes gathered for war with Israel, Saul began to beg God for guidance. God gave Saul no guidance. Saul then decided to take matters into his own hands (which made everything worse) and consulted a witch for guidance. God removed His hand of protection and Saul, his sons, and many Israelite men died in battle. These were God's CHOSEN people who disobeyed Him.
God is the beginning and end, and we can either stand with God or stand with the world. The only safe way is with God.
