A Nation's Strength

Where does the strength or weakness of a nation come from?  Does our strength spring from our wealth?  Is it tied to our military power?  Are we strong because we follow a particular form of government?  Interestingly enough, I believe that the strength of a nation is the summation of the character of her people, as individuals.  Wealth, power, and government are only manifestations of a people's character, for the country as a whole.  But there is one more manifestation of character that becomes the most appropriate measure of a nation's strength and that is righteousness.  Just as the measure of a well-made house can be tested with a plumb line and a level, so the true nature of a people can be found in their pursuit and expression of the living God, which then finds expression in right living.  Right living on a broad scale is a refreshment to this world, which totters continually around a moral axis that is decidedly off center.  A country that finds itself with a shell of strength, with wealth, power and freedom but that has retreated from the core of right living becomes a papier mache figure that will crack open, eventually, when battered with enough force.  The strength of a nation is built on the spiritual health of her citizens and as we seek to share Christ and live for Christ, we do much to restore that strength.  The world looks for an example of a people whose God is the true God.

 

Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Isaiah 58:Yet they seek Me daily,
      And delight to know My ways,
      As a nation that did righteousness,
      And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
      They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
      They take delight in approaching God.

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
      But sin is a reproach to any people.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith

http://2daysthought.blogspot.com/