“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea!“
America will celebrate its 250th birthday this July 4th. Historians will argue that our Constitution was ratified in 1788, almost 12 years later. But the long-recognized moment America asserted its independence as a nation occurred in 1776.
Over the next several generations, the “Spirit of ‘76” pointed to the importance of respecting the Providence and vision that established the United States as a beacon on a hill. The importance of adhering to George Washington’s admonition to recognize God’s role in America’s establishment—and continuation of blessing—cannot be overstated. And yet, today, a growing percentage of Americans reject the God who shed His grace on our land.
“The Man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf.” —Washington’s letter to Samuel Langdon, September 28, 1789
What is a Christian to make of America, a quarter of a millennium along?
The United States of America is undoubtedly the most prosperous nation on the Earth—perhaps of all time. Looking back, there can be no denying that God has indeed shed His grace—His unmerited favor—on our land, from sea to shining sea. But does our national “soul” encourage self-control? Do our laws champion ordered liberty? Is our success tempered with nobleness? Is brotherhood the defining characteristic of any good we aspire to reflect?
By all of those measures, America seems decidedly adrift. We are drifting farther and farther from Nature’s God—the Ruler of the Universe our Founders called upon and credited with for our celebrated independence. Kathy Lee Bates’ song is still a cherished national hymn, but large portions of our citizens would reject most of its words as outdated and wrong-minded. Too many would define liberty instead as being free from the yoke and cords of religious faith in general, and Christian faith in particular.
Love of country is not at odds with the Christian worldview. In fact, rightly ordered patriotism is a virtue, until it becomes an idol.
Will we last another 250 years? I cannot imagine Christ tarrying that long. But even if He does, the trendlines are not in favor of America weathering the divisions that are wrenching us apart even now. The great melting pot now attracts hardened and radicalized immigrants who have no interest in an E Pluribus Unum (“Out of Many, One”). And our universities now produce graduates who look upon their own homeland with great disdain.
God knows what lies ahead for America—just as He has revealed what lies ahead prophetically for the whole world.
We can and rightfully should celebrate His faithfulness to our country over the past 250 years. His outpouring of blessing after blessing has been—as the song duly recognizes—a function of His grace. America has been able to be a conduit of blessing to the world in general and specifically to Israel.
All of us who long for Christ’s coming can still be dedicated to seeking the welfare of the city and nation in which we live (Jeremiah 29). I spent most of my adult life doing just that, first in the military and then in elected office. My experience has been that those who see the world from God’s perspective tend to apply their service to Christ in ways that enrich this world the most.
But instead of settling merely for gleaming cities of man that will inevitably deteriorate over time, Christian patriots (and, yes, I am one), truly see beyond the years to cities that gleam with Heaven’s glorious light and that are eternally undimmed by human tears.
