For the first eighteen hundred or so years God strove with mankind. This covers the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Then in chapter 12 God makes a covenant with Abram, later called Abraham. Once Abraham obeyed, God kept his promise and ‘…made of thee a great nation…” (Genesis 12:2). And, this is the beginning of the Jewish people.
God had a bumpy ride with His people. This lasts for about a thousand years. He summed it up in Deuteronomy 10:16 when he said ’be no more stiffnecked.’ Stiffnecked they were and this is when the Jews demanded a king to rule them. God gave them what they asked for and in comes Saul. He was a military leader but lacked much in the way of spirituality. Because of this Israel did not fare well under his rule. Psalm 33:12 explains why this happened. To sum it up: a nation that has God as their LORD is blessed.
David follows Saul as king of Israel and this is the brightest era in Jewish history. His reign was one of devotion to God and Israel was the benefactor of David’s faith. It doesn’t take long after a study of the different kings in the Bible to figure out that those who declared God as their LORD were blessed. I & II Kings has a plethora of ungodly kings of Israel. Under these kings is a history of idolatry, murder, and practices so bad that it led to the people being take captive and shipped off to Assyria. Judah wound up in Babylonian captivity.
Take a look at the nations of today. Think about the rulers of them. The Middle East and all of those countries that have radical terrorists staging demonstrations right now. Are any of them blessed? Mayhem is the order of the day. If two columns were drawn on paper with one column listing nations that are blessed and the other those that aren’t, would it be that Psalm 33:12 would be true? Of course, because God is the foundation of all truth. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
America is blessed. It is still ’one nation under God’. Would to God that it continues to be so.
God had a bumpy ride with His people. This lasts for about a thousand years. He summed it up in Deuteronomy 10:16 when he said ’be no more stiffnecked.’ Stiffnecked they were and this is when the Jews demanded a king to rule them. God gave them what they asked for and in comes Saul. He was a military leader but lacked much in the way of spirituality. Because of this Israel did not fare well under his rule. Psalm 33:12 explains why this happened. To sum it up: a nation that has God as their LORD is blessed.
David follows Saul as king of Israel and this is the brightest era in Jewish history. His reign was one of devotion to God and Israel was the benefactor of David’s faith. It doesn’t take long after a study of the different kings in the Bible to figure out that those who declared God as their LORD were blessed. I & II Kings has a plethora of ungodly kings of Israel. Under these kings is a history of idolatry, murder, and practices so bad that it led to the people being take captive and shipped off to Assyria. Judah wound up in Babylonian captivity.
Take a look at the nations of today. Think about the rulers of them. The Middle East and all of those countries that have radical terrorists staging demonstrations right now. Are any of them blessed? Mayhem is the order of the day. If two columns were drawn on paper with one column listing nations that are blessed and the other those that aren’t, would it be that Psalm 33:12 would be true? Of course, because God is the foundation of all truth. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
America is blessed. It is still ’one nation under God’. Would to God that it continues to be so.
