God Wants to Forgive America

We’re on a collision course with the consequences of rebellion, but God has always wanted to forgive and restore.

Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’  Now then, hear the word of the Lord.” (Amos 7:14-16)

Like Amos, I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I’m a full-time duck hunter, for crying out loud. My father? He was a pipefitter and an oil derrick worker.

In spite of his lack of qualifications, however, God used Amos to speak uncomfortable truth to God’s people. The Jewish history was characterized by scatterings of faithful worship of the God who had chosen them, but they never lasted very long. Most of the time, they slid into the cesspool of depraved idol worship and outright rejection of God.

Still, for some reason, God loved them in spite of their sin. Even the harsh words of the prophets predicting calamity and doom for Israel were rooted in God’s love for his people, in his desire to see them return. His promise that he would bring Israel to her knees was tempered by a promise that he would relent on his promise to discipline them if only they would turn back to him:

“….Perhaps they will listen, and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.” (Jeremiah 26:3)

If America would take the time to listen to God’s tone in the Bible, she would see him as a god who is jealous for those he loves. Yes, he promised punishment, but only for the purpose of getting the attention of his people so that they would come back to him. Being loved by them was always more important to him than inflicting pain. Pain was only a tool. The goal was mutual love.

That’s still true today. You may be going through a rough patch right now and feel like God is trying to pay you back for your sin, but you are wrong. If anything, he’s trying to draw you into a deeper fellowship with him. That’s because he knows what you and I don’t know (or don’t want to know) — we won’t find joy anywhere but in the presence of the Almighty. Everything else will leave us empty and disappointed.

Of course, America is not Israel, and I have no special revelation from the Almighty about our republic. So, we can’t say that any prophecy about Israel is literally about America — or even about you or me. But we can say that the principle of God’s threat of discipline is directly tied to any person or group of people who decide that they want to toss God out in the streets and chart their own path. Doing that is not a good idea because it never ends well for anyone who’s ever tried it.

No, I am not a prophet, and neither are you! But you and I (as followers of Jesus) have a responsibility to the speak prophetic words of truth into the hearts of our neighbors. And that message is very clear: Turn away from your infatuation with your sinful ways and run to the God who loves you. If you do not, you will be disciplined, and it won’t be comfortable.

The sad truth is that it doesn’t look like the majority of Americans are any more open to listening to the words of the prophets than Israel was. I say that it’s sad because it sometimes looks to me like we are on a collision course with the consequences of rebellion. That people are going to suffer when avoiding it is way too simple.

One thing’s for sure, I’m not looking forward to the day when the army of God marches through our nation and brings with it the kind of hardship that God promised to rebellious Israel. But I can tell you this: I won’t be shocked when it does happen.

My appeal to America is simple, easily understood, and easily obeyed: Turn away from selfish sin, fall on your face before God, and admit that you have done what is evil in his sight. Then beg for him to be merciful.

When you do that, you will be shocked that he has been sitting on “go” the whole time you’ve been running away from him. There has never been a time when his desire for you and your country has not been to forgive and restore. That’s what he’s always wanted to do.

Unfortunately, too many people will not listen. Not yet at least. At some point, every man, woman, and child will confess the name of Jesus, but not right now.

But to those of you who do confess his lordship now, I will remind you that neither your faith nor your hardship will have been in vain. You’ll realize this when he appears and says, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

My desire to hear those words uttered by God is greater than any other desire I have. That’s because I know that the next words to come out of his mouth will be the ones that invite me into permanent, eternal, personal fellowship with him.

This is also why I am willing to speak uncomfortable truth about reality to every human being I encounter. I want everyone to enjoy with me the sheer ecstasy of sitting with God for eternity.