America: Walking Away from God! (Part 3)

The Lord is an encouraging God to the sheep in His pasture.  He beckons us daily to come to Him so He can oversee us and walk with us here on this earth.

           God often reminds me of carefully walking with Him and preparing my heart for His return.  He instructs us in Psalm 78, 7 things to do:

“DO’s”

…incline my ears to the words of His mouth;

…not conceal His word from the younger generation;

…tell of the praises of the Lord;

…tell of the strength and His wondrous works that He has done;

….to put my confidence in Him;

…not to forget His works; and,

…keep his commandments.

       Somebody needs to tell America of these seven things.  Let me be so bold that the survival of

American depends on heeding these seven things. 

 To not heed is to walk in peril of losing what He gave our forefathers and what they gave to us – His Word, His Way, and His Commandments.

  We have been quickly moving away from spiritual faith in the beginning of our republic to becoming a land of forgetfulness (Psalm 88:12) of the grace and truth of the Creator God and His Son – Jesus Christ.

          Israel of old walked away from the Lord several times only to be warned over and over again that they were on a slippery slope which caused the angry of God to arise and His heavy hand of punishment to come upon them for their disobedience. 

The Psalmist in Psalm 78, tells us 7 addition things that the early nation of Israel did:

“OBSERVE”

.....they put Him to the test;

 .....they continued to sin against him; 

 .....they deceived Him.

.....they lied to Him;

.....they grieved Him”

.....they rebelled against Him;

.....they tempted Him;

          Is American today doing to the Lord what early Israel did to Him as noted above? 

  In 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, observed that “the average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

“PONDER”

 .....from bondage to spiritual faith;

.....from spiritual faith to great courage;

.....from courage to liberty; 

.....from liberty to abundance;

.....from abundance to complacency;

.....from complacency to apathy;

.....from apathy to dependence;

.....from dependence back into bondage"

          Where is America today?  Have we passed the era of spiritual faith, great courage, and liberty or freedom?     

           Have we been swimming around in the last number of years…..

·       .....in excessive indulgence in material abundance and prosperity?

.....in complacency and self-gratification;

.....in apathy or indifference?

.....in dependence on government as the “sugar daddy” that will take care of all our needs and wants? and,

.....in sliding into bondage to sin, self, and falling from the virtues of  decency, respect, order, and righteousness?

       .....in making laws contrary to the laws of God?

          If this is the case, just how long do we have?

          There are 7 “did nots” in Psalm 78 of the early Hebrews that God tells us about and we should notice as individuals and as a nation the did nots of Israel:

                           “DID NOTS”

….[they] did not prepare their hearts and whose spirit was not faithful to God;

…..they did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law;

…..they did not believe in God and did not trust in His salvation;

…..they did not believe in His wonderful works;

…..they did not remember His power, His signs, His marvels….;

…..they did not keep His Word (testimonies) and turned back and acted treacherously;

…..they did not fear….;

          Here are the additional “did nots” in the other Psalms and the Book of Proverbs:

…..they did not possess the land;

 (Psalm 44:3)

…..they did not remember Your abundant kindnesses;

 (Psalm 106:7)

…..they did not wait for His counsel;

 (Psalm 106:13)

…..they did not believe in His word;

(Psalm 106:24)

…..they did not listen to the voice of the Lord;

(Psalm 106:25)

…..they did not choose the fear of the Lord;

(Proverbs 1:29)

          It is amazing that that when I penned this oracle, God led me to list the initial 7 “did nots” and then to follow with the additional 6 "did nots.”  When I got to this point, I thought, well if you take 7 + 6  = 13, and 13 in the Scriptures equates to sin, rebellion, and depravity.    

  What is God saying?  I believe He is saying to us at this particular time that any nation or any individual who does not recognize His sovereignty (power, grace, salvation, counsel, fear of, works, law, voice, kindness, faithfulness, etc.) will jeopardize His hand of blessing and cause grave consequences to come.  Instead of promises of blessings, there comes promises of curses.  See Deuteronomy Chapter 28.

          You do not hear this kind of talk today from the pulpit of the churches in America.  But God does not hide this in His word. It is there to instruct and warn.

          Now the bright spot in all of this is in the last three verses of Psalm 78 where He says,

He also chose David His servant…….

to shepherd …..His people….

So he shepherded them according

 to the integrity of his heart,

and

 guided them with his skillful hands.       

Christ comes to shepherd His sheep and the nations and will guide them into the good things of God, His Father, as they turn and trust in Him.  God promises the following which we have heard over and over but need to pray daily:

….If My people who are called by My name

humble 

themselves and

 pray 

and

seek

 My face and

turn 

from their wicked ways, then

I will hear 

from heaven,

will forgive

 their sin and

will heal 

their land. 

Now

 My eyes will be open 

and

My ears attentive 

to the prayer offered in this place.

 (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)      

    Let us pray that our nation will awake to the declension of its condition and approach the Creator in humility, prayer, seeking, and turning from abandoning Him so that He will hear, forgive, heal our lives and land.  He waits with eyes open and ears attentive. 

The question remains, what will He hear American saying?  As it seems that America is now walking away from the Lord, will America awaken to its decline and possible fall and turn to the Lord in this last hour of this age, or will America continue to walk farther and farther away from the Lord.

 Let us pray that America will heed the many warnings He is sending to America to wake up and immediately return to Him?

Rich Arnold

Servant of the Lord

311 Adelaide Ave SW

Hartville, Ohio 44632

330-704-9306

richarnold3@gmail.com