Today, our nation is besieged literally coast to coast ... wildfires, flooding, severe storms, economic chaos in certain states and cities.
Is this the beginning of God's judgment on this nation; on these United State? I don't know.
Many of us (because we are Bible believing Christians) have been mocked and criticized as we have prayed and cried out to God for grace and mercy.What I do know is that our God - the God of Bible - is holy, just, and merciful. He is always gracious and loving. Always. Please keep in mind that He is also the Supreme Judge of the nations. In His grace, He is long-suffering meaning that He has much patience in waiting for His creation to turn to Him in humility and repentance. He is a God of many, many chances... and yet He (in His justice) has a limit in allowing a people (individually and corporately) to get away with sin.
The God of the Bible guarantees forgiveness if we seek it, however - and listen and understand carefully - He often doesn't free us of or from the consequences of our sin. That should be a sobering truth.
We see this throughout world history. Rarely do "great" societies fall to outside forces. Babylon, Greece, Rome come to mind. Mostly, they implode to the inside forces of greed, unholiness, unrighteousness, callousness; in a single word: sin. Americans have sinned. All of us, both "right" and left, have sinned. We have sinned by commission (actively participated) as well as by omission (ignoring or looking the other way). None of us is righteous, no, not one.
More disgustingly, we as members of his Church (founded upon the death and resurrection of Jesus) have sinned greatly. And even worse, we have not repented; neither individually or corporately. The Church has sinned by commission: just look at our rates of divorce, use of pornography, abuse of alcohol, drugs and other substances (I am guilty as charged); we're no different from the secular or "unsaved" world. As far as omission goes we have allowed the Body of Christ to be bullied and shouted down by evil forces when it comes to issues of life (abortion - 60 million completely innocent souls since Roe v Wade - and euthanasia), human trafficking, LGBTQ causes (sometimes including our lack of love) and the chasing after the "good life" and possessions rather than lost souls (I am guilty here as well). Rather than engaging in proper discourse and discussion to "make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,.." (1 Peter 3:15), we tend to shout down the opposing view as well with personal ad hominem attacks. Scripture admonishes us to "speak the truth in love." (Ephesians 4:15). I am guilty of these violations too.
Our sin, both individual and corporate, is a stench in the nostrils of a Holy and Perfect God. And He will not tolerate it for long.
The following is the prophet Daniel's great prayer recorded in chapter 9 of that book of the Bible. After living for almost 70 years in captivity as a Jewish exile in Babylon, Daniel had studied the Scriptures and understood the Lord and His timing. Daniel - although a righteous and very learned man of God - was also aware of his own personal sin and the national sins that not only ripped the united Kingdom of Judah and Israel apart and now left the Temple itself destroyed, but now also led to the exile of the people and their loss of the authority to proclaim God's goodness and righteousness. Daniel he knew in the deepest parts of his being that sin always brings about consequences and usually some kind of suffering; and he purposefully acknowledged those facts.
Very similarly to ancient Judah and Israel, the United States of America is in a similar position. For almost 200 years America stood as a beacon for liberty, freedom and righteousness. We weren't perfect. It took decades for us to rid the nation of slavery and bring equal rights to all citizens, but yet we persevered. Then after World War II we began to live fat and happy and flaunted our affluence. Corporately we began to reject God from the marketplace of ideas and discussion. The Church allowed itself to relegated to a "Sunday only" faith. The Church's salt was less salty and our light was less bright, yet God continued (continues) to use our fallen, hypocritical selves for His purposes and glory.
I would implore you to read this prayer, then pray it for yourself. Pray it for your fellow Americans. This is serious business. Remember that God is always ready to forgive and forget if we are willing to confess from our hearts and truly repent.
"4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” Daniel 9:4-19
Let us call on our leaders (regardless of party affiliation) across the country to call not only for a day of prayer, but a day (week or month) of confession & repentance. Perhaps, just perhaps, our nation will be spared. If not, that is God's right. In that case, turn to Him ... quickly and repent. Today is the day of Salvation.