Pt.3 National Rededication Gone Wrong

What Makes a Nation Great

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” ...And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! - Mark 7:6-9

Jesus recognized a severe, nation-crippling threat facing ancient Israel as described by Isaiah 700 years earlier. A nation's leaders can observe religious rituals and make bold religious pronouncements, but it can all be in vain. What a tragedy. So what was Jesus referring to in Isaiah's generation, and what solution did Isaiah provide? 

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. - Isaiah 58:2-3

A nation that claims to delight in God's ways will be held accountable for its actions. Claiming national allegiance to God while behaving in a contradictory manner puts the nation at risk of collapse. Israel's history is replete with periods of collapse induced by insincere lip service to God. What does Isaiah recommend?

Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? - Isaiah 58:5

Humility is the highest attribute of leadership God calls great, and the catalyst for national course correction. A national rededication must be characterized by humility and sincere repentance of our lip service. Here is what Isaiah says will happen if the nation's leaders humble themselves and commit to validating their words with actions:

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. - Isaiah 58:8

Beautiful, right? Every national leader would love to claim this verse, but precious few will pay the price of humbling themselves before God and embracing wholehearted obedience. Humility is treated as political and diplomatic weakness today, but humility before God is what makes a nation great. We continue to fool ourselves into thinking we can make our nation great. Israel's greatest king to ever live would disagree.

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” - Psalm 16:2

I pray that "Rededicate 250" would be held to a higher standard than our President, that the leaders involved would humble themselves and personally repent of political lip service, and that they would recognize that only God makes great and gives strength to all.