May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us -- so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
(Psalm 67:1b-2 NIV)
The opening verses of Psalm 67 reveal an important biblical principle which is too often forgotten or at least underemphasized. One of the reasons God blesses us is so that through us His ways and His salvation may be known all around the world. That’s important! Certainly, God blesses us because He loves us and wants good for us, as any good Father does for his children. But God also blesses us in order that we ourselves might become a blessing to others.
As I’ve thought about these verses and the truth they teach, I’ve seen connections to other things going on in our world today like the popular Christian song “The Blessing,” ways in which God has blessed and used the US in history, and my prayer struggle related to the US election.
A Wonderful, Popular Song
I thank God for the worldwide phenomenon the song “The Blessing” has quickly become. In fact, shortly after the song was published I wrote a blog post looking at the solid biblical basis for that song. “The Blessing” and Psalm 67 both echo the blessing God taught the Levitical priests to declare over His people (see Numbers 6:23-27).
“The Blessing” reminds us that it is right and good to seek God’s blessing and that our gracious God is eager to bless us and our families because He is for us. But Psalm 67 takes things an important step further. God does not want to bless us only for our own comfort and enjoyment. He wants to bless us so that we in turn may become a blessing to others. And specifically, He wants to bless us so that through us His plan to spread His salvation all over the world can be completed.
Some Ways in Which God has Blessed America and made us a Blessing
God is working in every nation and every people. He loves all nations. While His love is the same, the ways in which He is working in and through different nations can vary in many of the details. Here I want to share some ways in which I believe God has blessed America and made us a blessing to others. Before I go on, we must remember that God’s blessings are always acts of grace and do not indicate that we merit them and certainly do not indicate that we are better than others. In fact, it would not surprise me at all if many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who live in nations which in many ways are more difficult to live in, and yet who have been faithful to God and worked to share His good news and spread His love, will receive greater eternal rewards than those like myself who have spent most of our lives in the relative comfort of the US. Nevertheless, I am thankful for the ways in which God has blessed the US and made us a blessing.
First, I’ll share three of the ways in which we have been graciously blessed:
1. The US has a strong gospel heritage and deep Christian roots. Relative to most nations throughout history, we have had many Christians praying for and influencing and sometimes serving in leadership in our nation throughout our history. Christian principles and values have influenced many aspects of our nation.
2. We have enjoyed a degree of religious freedom and relative safety from persecution that has been rare throughout history and is still unusual around the world today.
3. We have been blessed with material prosperity. On average, Americans are among the most prosperous people in history. Severe poverty has been less common in our nation than it has been in most other places in the world. Along with this, we have relatively good education, health care, transportation and communication infrastructure, and more.
These are great blessings, but they also bring great responsibility. “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48 ESV). In this respect, we have both reasons to repent as well as reasons to be thankful. God has used some of the blessings He has given our nation to make us a blessing to others. Here are three examples:
1. On several occasions the Lord has used the US military (together with others) to protect the world from evil forces that very actively wanted to take over the world and which were cruel, evil, and very anti-Christian. This happened during WW2 where we stood against and defeated the Nazis and imperialist Japan. It happened again during the cold war where we stood against communism (this is still a threat). And it has been happening more recently as we have stood against extremist forms of Islam. This is one way in which we have used the blessings the Lord has given us, and many have even sacrificed their lives, for the good of the world we live in. (I have a whole blog post on this topic, here.)
2. The US has often served as a type of safe haven and refuge for those fleeing from tyranny and oppression or seeking to escape severe poverty.
3. Specifically in terms of Christians in the US, we have been blessed with the opportunity to send and support gospel missions all around the world. This has been made possible by both our rich Christian heritage and also by the material blessings we have received. This third way in which God has used us to be a blessing is most specifically in line with the passage I opened this blog post with: “so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (Psalm 67:2 CSB17).
Prayer, Revival, and The Election
More than at any other time in my life, I feel there is a great risk that we in the US could lose much of our special blessing and even more importantly that we could lose the great privilege of being a blessing to others in the ways I have described above.
I believe that what we need the most is a nation-wide revival. I am talking about a great move of the Holy Spirit that leads to a lot of people trusting and loving God a lot more. This has been a prayer burden for me and many other Christians for many years. This need will remain urgent whatever the outcome of the election is.
However, I believe the election is also important. I view the relation between the election with its effect on our government and the need for revival to be like the relationship between giving someone with pneumonia oxygen and curing the underlying cause of the pneumonia. The oxygen will not clear the patient of whatever type of infection is causing the pneumonia, but it may allow the patient to live long enough to be cured. In a similar way, good human government can never, on its own, address our sin problem. But it can be a blessing that gives us more time to seek God and experience revival and renewal before sliding into a deeper darkness. That deeper darkness could rob us of much of the blessing we have had. This in turn could limit some of the ways in which we are a blessing to others.
I always pray for healing for the sick, even though I know and accept that sometimes it is God’s will to allow the sickness to continue. I always pray for safety for myself and those I love, even though I know sometimes God has good reasons to allow us to suffer some types of limited and temporary harm in this world (even though such things will not ultimately harm us at all).I believe that praying in these ways is right and follows the biblical example. In the same way, I am praying for God to bless the US with good government (at least relatively good) and to protect us from evil in this election. I know God may have reasons to allow us to reap what we have sown and experience more evil and less good in our nation, but I hope and pray that instead He will extend His great patience with us and show continued grace.
I want to get specific here. When it comes to things like praying for specific candidates and political parties, I recognize that we need to pray humbly because our analysis of who will be best for us might be wrong. Therefore, I pray with an *. What I mean is that I pray and either explicitly or at least implicitly add something like, “but if my understanding is wrong, please Lord work according to Your own perfect wisdom.” If you think and pray differently than I do concerning the best outcome for this election, then my hope is the same for your prayers, namely that God will see the good desire in your heart and interpret your prayers according to His wisdom even if that means actually working contrary to some specific ways you pray.
Praying humbly is not the opposite of praying boldly. With the Spirit’s leading, it is possible to pray with humble boldness. Here is an example of how I am praying. As the Spirit leads you, I urge you to also join in this prayer struggle:
Lord, however this election turns out, it cannot change the hearts of people towards You. I pray that you will send us a revival where many will hear the gospel and believe it, many will turn from their sins, and many will find new Holy Spirit power for ministry. Let us always remember that Who our Lord is is vastly more important than who our President is.
Nevertheless, the election is important, and the outcome will likely greatly impact us and our neighbors, either for good or for bad.
Lord, please have mercy on the US and bless the results of this election. Lord, we long for Your continued blessing and we long to continue to be a blessing to others around the world. In my understanding, this means helping Trump and Pence and other Republicans to win and the Democrats in general to lose. Please work according to Your wisdom and grace. Lord, I pray that you will stir many to vote according to Your will. Every vote matters, but I pray especially for the battle ground states, including:
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Florida
Michigan
Florida
North Carolina
Arizona
Minnesota
Nevada
Texas
Ohio
Georgia
Lord, I pray that Trump will again do well among evangelicals (according to Your will). I pray that in this election many more Latin American, African American, Jewish, and other people will vote for him compared to 2016.
Heavenly Father, I also pray that you will help Republicans to keep the Senate, do well in the House, and do well in the many important state and local elections.
Lord, whenever we receive Your gracious blessings, let us always remember that we should seek to use them not merely for our own comfort, but to bless and serve others. However this election turns out, and whatever happens in the US, give us courage and grace to continue to spread Your good news and share Your love with our neighbors near and far.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
If you are interested in reading some of the reasons that I voted for Trump and other Republicans, you may read these two blog posts:
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