Daily Devotions
How Should We Feel About America Right Now?
Title: How Should We Feel About America Right Now?
Reading for January 15: Genesis 47-50
And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place." He answered, "I will do as you have said." And he said, "Swear to me"; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.
Genesis 47:29-31
If you are like me, you have conflicting emotions about our nation. I love my country. I'm thankful I live in America. I'm grateful to live in a land that is the envy of most of the world. As distressing as recent events have been to us, most of the rest of the world would love to have our problems.
And yet we can't ignore what we've seen. It's distressing. It's depressing. It's downright discouraging. And it may only get worse, not better. How are we, as Christians, to feel about our nation right now?
I think we have a helpful parallel here with Jacob. Jacob moved his family down to Egypt. He wasn't taken there as a slave or as a captive. He went freely of his own accord. In fact, God told him to go with his family to Egypt (Gen 46:1-4).
In Egypt, he and all his family were provided with food and everything they needed to survive during a terrible famine. They were given the best of the land in which they could dwell and take care of their flocks and herds. I believe that when Jacob daily bowed his head in prayer to God he gave thanks for Egypt and for Pharaoh and for the plentiful resources they were able to enjoy there. Why wouldn't he?
But make no mistake, Egypt was not his home. His dying wish made that abundantly clear. Egypt was not to be his final burying place. He wanted to lie with his fathers in the promised land.
And God's people should always feel this yearning and longing in their hearts. We should be thankful for the land on which God has placed us. We should be thankful for the bread we eat. We should be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. We should give thanks for the health and peace we're able to have in this land.
But we should never forget where our true home is. And when distressing and disturbing things happen here in America we should STILL give thanks to God. We should give thanks for the reminder that this world is not our home.
I don't know about you, but I've found myself praying more fervently and more often a very old prayer that God's people have been praying for the last 2,000 years...
O Lord, come! (1 Cor 16:22)
