Praying for My Country and Considering God's Call

Dear Fellow Children of God,



Do you pray for our country?  For the nations of the world?  What do you pray?  Please consider that question as I ramble some.



I spend time daily reading Scriptures and, in my current devotions, I am finally coming to the end of the Old Testament.  This week’s lessons are in Zechariah.  Next week I finish Malachi and begin reading in the New Testament.  After about a year and a half of reading the Old Testament, this Christian longs to hear directly about God’s grace in Jesus.



The common themes which I have been reading about in the prophets are God’s words of Judgement of the Old Testament people for their sin, and the Lord’s Promise of Hope because of God’s grace in the coming Messiah.  Some may ask, “Is judgement even relevant in today’s world?”  Judgment is not just relevant, it is an assured reality which will reach ultimate fulfillment when Jesus comes again.  The sin of this world will be judged.  And, in the Lord’s supreme act of forgiveness, God’s children, those who repent of their sin and trust God’s mercy in Jesus, will receive eternal life in heaven.



But what about in our lives in this world?  Does God send judgment on us today because of our sinfulness?  That is a more complicated question, even a dangerous question.  Sin is the cause of the evil in our world, yet Jesus warned numerous time in Scripture not to think that the troubles which happens to us today are the direct result of some specific wrong we committed.  Read John 9:1-4 and see how Jesus teaches His disciples that the blind man was not born with his affliction because of his sin, nor the sin of his parents.,  Instead, God would use this affliction to glorify Himself, as Jesus healed the blind man.  Or, read Luke 13:1-9.  Jesus warns the people of his day not to think that the cruelty of Pilate, nor the disaster of the tower in Siloam, were the direct result of sin.  Jesus warns that everyone is sinful and He calls all to repent.  If God worked specifically punishing our every evil deed, then we are all in deep danger.  Scripture instead assures us, time and again, that God is “slow to anger, and abounding in love.” (Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nahum 1:3 (all recent reading of mine), and especially Psalm 103:8) 



Yet, as I read through the pages of the minor prophets, they are full of God’s judgment on people who will not turn from their sin and turn to God.  So, the Lord judges and condemns Israel, Judah, Assyria, Babylon, and other nations.  He also promises that, even before the Great Day of the Lord’s Judgment, that they will reap the results of their idolatry, their pride, their self-indulgence, their sinfulness.



Now, back to my original questions.  “Do you pray for our country?  For the nations of the world?  What do you pray?”  I daily pray for our nation, and the nations of the world.  For years my constant prayer has been for repentance - turning from sin, and for faith - to trust and hold on to the mercy of our Lord in Jesus.  Our whole world has turned more and more away from the Creator, turned away from the Lord, turned away from the Savior, from the Comforter of this world.  Many reject the reality of God and the truth of His word for their lives.  Our mouths and our lives do not praise Him, but use His name in vain.  We treat the Sabbath and worship as a personal choice, rather than as the sweet opportunity that we regularly need to be with our Lord and His people.  The people of this world, and unfortunately, even those who trust Jesus, reject the authorities God has established.  We often hurt others to achieve our own desires.  People ignore that sex is a gift from God to be used in marriage, intended to strengthen the relationship of a husband and wife.  Theft is common.  Lying abounds. Gossip and the twisting of truth have been multiplied through the internet.  We are not satisfied with the way that the goodness and mercy of God overflow in our lives.  We long for more things, rather than finding satisfaction in our Lord Himself.  In other words, we have not kept, or sometimes even cared about, the 10 commandments.  Or, as the prophet Micah says, we have forgotten what God requires of us. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  (Micah 6:8)



Yet, in Romans 8:28 God promises, ^“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  As I pray for repentance and faith in the nations I ask myself, “Could God be using the trial before us now for good, to point our country and to call the whole world, to Himself?  Could God be calling us to repentance, both His Church and the world, and calling us to “humbly walk” trusting in Him?  There are many places where we are told that God waits and longs for such repentance.  (Luke 15:7, 2 Peter 3:9, Revelation 16:9,11) 



The greatest way in which our Lord reaches out to us and calls us is when He sent His Son, Jesus.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  (John 3:17)  Does the sacrificial love of God in Jesus touch your heart?



I know that as a baptized child of God I need to daily drown my “old Adam”, my sinful nature and desires, and I need to let the new man that God makes me in Jesus come forth and serve Him.  It is easy to point the finger at others and then to forget my own sin.  Perhaps God is speaking to me in this current plague to turn again from my sinful desires, and to turn to his “abounding love.” 



How about you?  Is God calling?



A Child of God, Praying for my Country and Considering God’s Call,

Pastor Jonathan



P.S.  Kathy and I arrived home last Monday night, and are in 14 days of quarantine until next Monday night, May 18.  During this time at home Kathy has been quilting, while I have found “a few chores” to do.  Here are some pictures.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/SAmkzpKsCp9V9vGeA

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ABOUT THIS DEVOTION - I am now retired as senior pastor of St. John Lutheran in Palmer, AK.  My weekly devotion was previously titled, "Thoughts from the Pastor."  However, with life's changes I now call the devotion "Journeys Through Life as a Child of God."  I am only sending this message to those who have asked to receive it.  If you know someone else who desires to receive this message, have them e-mail me at jonrock53@mtaonline.net.  I will include them on my distribution list. You can also view this message on my Facebook page.

            A NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME WHY THEY ARE NO LONGER RECEIVING MY DEVOTIONS.  Since I’m only sending these e-mails to people who ask for them, many are no longer receiving them.  BUT, if you read this on Facebook and would like to receive these devotions by e-mail, or if you know someone who would like to receive these devotions, send me an e-mail at jonrock53@mtaonline.net, and I will add you to my distribution list.