Psalm 33:10-13 "The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. (11) The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. (12) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (13) The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men."
The theme of these verses points us toward the LORD. The LORD overrides
the counsel of the heathen. The LORD gives good and right instructions. The
LORD is the source of all blessings for any nation. The LORD blesses the people
He has chosen. The LORD looks down from heaven and sees what is
happening. The next question that would come to the natural mind would be
something like this: "If the Lord sees and knows, why does He allow
things to continue as they are?" Would that be a fair assessment of
what we hear and see from all around us?
Let's take God's Word to look at it from another direction. We do not
have to wonder what God's intentions are toward us. Let's first look at
the words of Jesus. "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the
things which I say?" (Luke 6:46) Why would I even have the right to
say Jesus is my Lord if I'm not going to do what He tells me to do. On
the night of His betrayal, Jesus spoke these words: "Ye call me
Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." (John 13:13) He then
went on to say, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do
them." (John 13:17)
Please stay with me on this because there is rhyme to my reasoning. Let's look
at the words of God in the Old Testament. They are familiar. We have heard many
sermons on them. We hear them quoted all the time. We see them written quite
often. But let's look at them for just a moment as we consider that the LORD is
our God. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their
land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
We quite often hear people asking, "When is God going to do something
about all the evil that is in the world right now?" We hear verse 14
quite often, but let's look at verse 15: "Now mine eyes shall be
open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place." (2
Chronicles 7:15) If you allow me to put this in my everyday language, I
picture it something like this. People are asking, "When is God
going to do something about all this?" And in the meanwhile, I picture God
asking, "When are my people going to turn to me in true repentance?"
He has promised blessings IF we do those things. May I submit to us (and
I realize this may sound harsh), quoting the verse, or writing the verse, is not
praying the prayer of repentance, seeking forgiveness for ourselves and our
nation. We must not only quote it, we must live it from the heart.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD. But that nation's blessings come
through doing the things the Lord commands us to do. May we, as a nation,
fall on our knees before the LORD God Almighty in humble submission to His will
for us.