What sadness drives us to our knees seeking forgiveness for the sins of our Fathers and asking God’s intervention to rescue a people group?  How bad does life have to get before we are driven to our faces before God asking forgiveness and rescue?  We have all been there, some for extended periods throughout life, that moment when we are crippled in our own devices, realizing with permanence that only the Lord can shelter us.  What drives a man to that point of surrender where his only Hope is in God?  Is that something that we can consciously manufacture or do we require the bitter promptings and pain of life’s quandary?  How many times when we are in those dire moments do we reflect upon the promises of God knowing fully that rescue shall certainly come?

I look at the story of Nehemiah and how he bitterly wept regarding Jerusalem’s state of destruction.  He didn’t beg God for assistance without first understanding, admitting and repenting of the sins of his people which caused that devastation.  You see the sin was disbelieving God’s Sovereign Authority. God had warned them that this discipline would come, they refused to listen, voluntarily bringing God’s Hand upon their nation.  Nehemiah, conscious of their national sin, knew the only way to escape God’s judgment was through prayer and contrition.  But his prayer demonstrated something more, a hope born from the dismay and realization that a believer has disobeyed or offended God.  If the punishment provokes wisdom and wisdom leads to understanding and understanding to repentance and subsequent dependence on God, then dismay is a wonderfully perfect mechanism for building relationship with God?

I see a nation and a people that I love.  They have a kindness and sensitivity and care that only comes from a kinship with the Almighty God.  This nation has forgotten themselves, being caught up in and tossed about by the frivolous pursuits of humanity, in ignorance ignoring the stark message of the Prophets, foretelling God’s Hand of Discipline.  That nation is our beloved United States, which began as a God fearing experiment and has turned into a self serving melee of aggrandizement for which we must certainly be corrected.  I see that “Shining City on a Hill” to which Reagan referred but I see it as burned, smoldering, charred by the flames of our enemies siege cannons, walls broken and strewn, people displaced in various forms of servitude.  We have not heeded the warnings and will certainly be shamed for our transgressions.  We know this to be true because we have hope in the promises of God and fully understand that He has never long allowed disobedience from His Children.  I abhor the shattered silence of her depression and chastisement, but I understand what will be born of its corrective discipline.  Perhaps there will be one single man who will cry out to God for succor, repenting of our national sins and expecting/depending fully upon the Grace of God for deliverance.

My earthly Father once said to me, “Son, I love you but if there is a hard way or an easy way to learn something you will always choose the hard path.”  He was right, but I also understand the hope tied to his statement of instruction.  He hoped and I believe that he has received the answer to his prayers in that now I have matured to the point where I will sometimes hear the voice of wisdom and have no need for discipline.  I pray that for this nation and each of us as Spirit filled believers, that we learn to distinguish the voice of the Father and obey his direction so that discipline becomes unnecessary.  I do not see us making that decision as a nation and regretfully this shall certainly lead to our eventual demise.  But I have hope that the Lord shall deliver us from the discipline created by our own disobedience when we have finally fallen to our knees in the hope of dismay.