What Is America’s Relationship with God?
Psalm 48:1-14 (NCV)

“The LORD is great; he should be praised in the city of our God, on his holy mountain. ²It is high and beautiful and brings joy to the whole world. Mount Zion is like the high mountains of the north; it is the city of the Great King. ³God is within its palaces; he is known as its defender.
⁴Kings joined together and came to attack the city. ⁵But when they saw it, they were amazed. They ran away in fear. ⁶Fear took hold of them; they hurt like a woman having a baby. ⁷You destroyed the large trading ships with an east wind.
⁸First we heard and now we have seen that God will always keep his city safe. It is the city of the LORD All-Powerful, the city of our God. Selah
⁹God, we come into your Temple to think about your love. ¹⁰God, your name is known everywhere; all over the earth people praise you. Your right hand is full of goodness. ¹¹Mount Zion is happy and all the towns of Judah rejoice, because your decisions are fair.
¹²Walk around Jerusalem and count its towers. ¹³Notice how strong they are. Look at the palaces. Then you can tell your children about them. ¹⁴This God is our God forever and ever. He will guide us from now on.”

Our national treasure has not been our vast natural resources, or our creative people, or our freedom and opportunities. Our national treasure has been the blessing and protective hand of God. Without that, we would have been a gonner a long time ago.

God’s blessing comes to any nation that will live by God’s for life at its best. Our Judeo-Christian heritage not only gave us the Pilgrims, but the character and values that helped establish the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Take away the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ teachings from the founding of our nation and we would be a very different kind of nation.

Today there seems to be a movement to do just that. What kind of nation will it produce? Just what IS America’s relationship with God—does it matter?

I. God bless America or America bless God?
“The LORD is great; he should be praised in the city of our God.” The “city of our God” is Jerusalem, the capital of God’s Old Testament people. They were to see God as praise-worthy, to seek God’s wisdom and to follow God’s plans. But what about America? Is there anything wrong with America blessing God by seeking to reflect God’s right in our national character, values and actions?

Like Israel, when enemies attack, we are glad to have God help us. “³God is within its palaces; he is known as its defender.” After 9-11, during Operation Desert Storm, and other wars, the theme of most Americans was “God bless America.” You could buy the little car flags that said, “God bless America” in many stores. Yet, as time passes, people begin to say that we want no part of God nationally.

Why should we give liberty to all people? Why do we think “justice is for everyone”? These concepts were shaped by an understanding of Christian principles. If we eliminate this from our culture, how will we decide our values? What will we use as a moral compass—if we eliminate our Christian heritage?

Some would say, “It is not constitutional to look to Christianity for guidance in shaping our values and character.” “What does it mean when the Court declares something to be unconstitutional?” It means that the Founding Fathers would have opposed this, would not have wanted this.

James Madison, the chief architect of the Constitution said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”¹

George Washington in his Farewell Address to the Nation that no one should claim the tribute of American patriotism if they ever attempt to remove religion and morality from politics.

President Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1802 in an address to the Danbury Baptists said, “The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall; it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.” It was not to control religion—but to control government! They meant freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion!

In the case of Reynolds v. United States, 1878, the Supreme Court pulled out Jefferson’s speech in its entirety and confirmed that Jefferson also said that Christian principles were never to be separated from government. It remained this way until 1947, when, for the first time in the Supreme Court’s history, the court used only 8 words out of Jefferson’s speech. I wouldn’t want someone pulling out just eight words from one of my sermons and using them to say what I have said. They could make me say ANYTHING! But that has happened with President Jefferson’s words.

So what objective standard will we use to decide American values and character? If we are not faithful to our roots, it will radically change America.

II. God has protected us.
“⁴Kings joined together and came to attack the city. ⁵But when they saw it, they were amazed. They ran away in fear.”

When God chose to, He protected Israel. Israel was not kept safe when she was unfaithful to God. The lesson to learn is that no nation can invoke God’s help while sticking their tongue out at God.

Proverbs 14:34-“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” It is still true. That’s why Abraham Lincoln said he was not so concerned whether God is on our side but that we are on God’s side.

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, “I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests—and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning—and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!”

Psalm 33:10-11-“The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. ¹¹But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

Can you imagine changing history: Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941, To the Congress of the United States: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. . . (the President continues, then . . .)
With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.” “So help us”—what if FDR had stopped there? We would have been on our own—no moral inspiration, no high ground for which to be willing to sacrifice.

Psalm 33:12-“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” Some value-center will lead America. How can we ask God to be our defender while rejecting God’s ability to influence the direction of our nation and her peoples?

III. Pray for spiritual awakening!

Here’s where I want you to get personally involved. It says in verse 9 of the text, “God, we come into your Temple to think about your love.” We Christian, people who know that America HAS been blessed by God—we haven’t just been “lucky”—we need to call America to think about how good God has been to us and challenge people to respond to God’s goodness appropriately. America needs more than towers of weapons. America needs to build on our heritage from God.

Within my lifetime, we’ve talked about the “Godless Communist government”. Are we now to speak also of the atheistic (Godless) American government? That was not the intent of the framers of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. In fact, many of them would intentionally say, “God forbid!”

America today is in the throws of an identity crisis. We are in a struggle for
America’s very soul!

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. A theocracy (God-run government) is not the answer. We don’t need a state-approved church organization—We left that behind in England. But neither should we have the opposite extreme—an atheistic, Godless government and society.

American Christians are responsible to ask God to help us sort things out. God says in 2 Chronicles 7:14-“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

What will you do now?
It is hard to know what the right balance is in the God and America issue. But we must not forget where our bread is buttered!

Will you commit yourself to pray at least weekly for the United States of America? Ask God to guide us in these confusing times and give wisdom to our nation’s leaders. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Amen.

---