The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
Psalm 9:17-20
One of the recurring themes of history is mankind’s rejection of God’s authority. This is true in many areas, but one of the places where it has been most apparent is in governments. Human leaders have often thought of themselves as being in control. Certainly that was true of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. God removed his reason, and the great king lived in the field like an animal for seven years to drive home the truth: “And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Daniel 4:32).
Acknowledging the sovereignty of God was written into the foundations of America. The words of Scripture and quotes from the Founding Fathers stating that truth are graven into stone in our nation’s capital. Yet it is also evident that efforts to deny God’s authority have become increasingly common in our day, posing a serious threat to the moral foundations of our nation.
In a speech at a prayer breakfast in Dallas in August of 1984, President Ronald Reagan said, “We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot endure. If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
