God Bless America

 

   I remember very well, in the aftermath of 9/11/01, how, when people would gather for an event, sporting or otherwise, that the song "God Bless America" would be sung with gusto. Our country had been violated, attacked from the outside by those who would like to see us destroyed. For a time, people were stirred in patriotism, coming together to say to the rest of the world, and indeed to themselves, that God was the answer to this terrible event.

   The words to this Irving Berlin song are:

   While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, 
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free. 
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, 
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer: 

God bless america, land that I love, 
Stand beside her and guide her 
Through the night with a light from above. 
From the mountains, to the prairies, 
To the oceans white with foam, 
God bless america, 
My home sweet home. 

   I thought of this song as I read Psalm 78 this morning. The psalmist relates how God has blessed Israel over all the years, but as he closes the list of blessings, he writes:

"they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again. "

   Is this how we are here today? Do we readily ascribe to the blessings that we acknowledge come from God, while all the while, living as we want to, without regard to His laws?

   On this election day, in the year 2012, do we sing God Bless America as a solemn prayer for guidance, or because we want to keep on enjoying His blessings, regardless of the way we live our lives? Do we truly want "that light from above" or just the material blessings that flow from following that light from Him?

   Do we suppose that God will continue to bless us?

   "Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath."

   Will we become?

   "a wind that passes and comes not again. "

   We cannot continue to expect God's blessings without taking the responsibility of following His pathway to life. But, it is not just a collective "we", it starts with me.