Consequences of National Disobedience

[God] is not a man that He should change His mind.
—1 Samuel 15:29

This week we are looking at three explosive decisions by the Supreme Court that have determined the course of our nation. Right now we are living in that pause between the explosions that have already occurred and the coming implosion of our country. Yesterday we saw the first explosion: the prohibitions against prayer and voluntary reading of the Bible. These were only preambles to the most outlandish Supreme Court decision to date.

For years public schools in Kentucky had posted copies of the Ten Commandments in the hallways. There was no obligation for the students to read the Ten Commandments. The schools did not promote or teach about them. However, in 1980 in “Stone v. Graham” the Supreme Court ruled that posting the Ten Commandments was unconstitutional. The Court said, “It will induce the school children to read, meditate upon, perhaps venerate, and obey the commandments. This is not a permissible state objective under the establishment clause of the First Amendment.” Obeying the Ten Commandments is not a permissible objective of the government? Seventeen years later a group of students assembled at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky, for a time of prayer and Bible reading. As these students were praying, another student pulled out a handgun and opened fire, killing three students and seriously wounding five. That occurred in the hallway of a Kentucky school where the Supreme Court said you cannot post the words “You shall not kill.” Is that just a coincidence? I don’t think so.

God warned Israel of the consequences they would experience if they forsook Him and forgot His commandments. In Hosea 4:6 God said, “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” That word “forget” doesn’t mean to have a memory lapse. It means to turn away from. God said, “Because you rejected Me I will judge your country.” And that is exactly what happened in 722 BC. The pagan nation of Assyria invaded Israel and took them captive.

Do you think God has changed His mind in 3,000 years about what He loves and what He hates? How do you think God reacts to a nation that says, “We are no longer going to allow the mention of God in the public arena. We are no longer going to allow our children to be taught the law of God in school”? Do you think God is saying, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you Americans had a Constitution. Forget what I said about making Me preeminent in your nation. That doesn’t apply to you.” Do you think that’s how God reacts? Of course not. Look at what Samuel said about our unchanging God: “He is not a man that He should change His mind” (1 Samuel 15:29).

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “When a Nation Implodes – Part 1” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.