A Presidential Proclamation and Isaiah 65

No, this is not President Obama speaking. Its not even President Reagan - that great man of faith. First read it and notice how timely it is... I'll tell you who issued this official proclamation later.

"Whereas it is the duty of Nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling Power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet will assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the Sublime Truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all History, that those Nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
...We have been the recipients of the choicest of bounties of Heaven; we have been preserve these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nations has ever grown. BUT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD. We have forgotten the Gracious Hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and straightened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our National Sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

I found this while reading Isaiah 65 today.
The first half of that chapter talks about the Righteousness of God's Judgement against a people who said to Him "keep to Yourself. Do not come near me, for I am holier than you!" Doesn't that sound like America today? A nation that "walks in a way that is not goo, according to their own thoughts". God goes on to tell Isaiah that this nation that didn't answer when He called, didn't hear when He spoke, who prefer Fortune & Destiny and did what was evil will be numbered for the sword. Sin earns destruction - whether individually or nationally "the wages of sin are death".

Isaiah goes on to write though, that God promises good for those who are His servants. In a detailed list He promises that His servants will eat, drink, rejoice and sing for joy while the rebellious will go hungry, thirst, be ashamed, cry from broken-heartedness and wail in grief of spirit.

Ever merciful God ends His this warning to Isaiah with a beautiful description of the Glorious New Creation - the new heavens and new earth. This passage ends with one of the most beautiful word pictures in the Old Testament: "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer;And while they are still speaking, I will hear.The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,The lion shall eat straw like the ox,And dust shall be the serpent's food.They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain,"Says the Lord our God."

While I know the last glorious passage will not come to pass until Christ returns and every knee has bowed to Him in Heaven and on Earth, I cannot but marvel at how close America has come to the description of the "rebellious nation" and it scares me. Please take a moment today and read Isaiah 65, then read the news headlines, then pray. Prayer for our country and its leaders, for the upcoming elections and most importantly beseeching God for forgive our national sin of turning our backs upon Him on Whom our country was founded. Pray for your neighbors, pray for your children's future, pray for mercy and guidance.