Lent is a time for deep spiritual introspection, which is intended to lead to true repentance and subsequent cleansing (forgiveness) and renewal, the effect of which is reconciliation with God and man, and a closer walk with both.

Not only do I pray Psalm 139:23-24 daily for myself (and encourage others to do the same), I pray it for the Church and our Nation as well.

The first two messages this month focused primarily on us as individuals.  This week I turn our attention to the Nation, and next week the Church.

Scripture exhorts us to pray for our nation and her leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-3).  In my daily prayers for our Nation (more so now during Lent than at any other time), I begin by thanking God for our good and godly heritage (Psalm 16:6) – for the unimaginable sacrifices made by those who came here from across “the pond” as the Brits would say; and for bequeathing to us a remarkable framework of governance (i.e. the U.S. Constitution), based among other things, on biblical principles.  But then I also intercede on behalf of our country, confessing our sins, that God may forgive our sins and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Since our nation’s sins are far too many to number and name, I cut to the chase.  To me, all our problems can be traced back to a forsaking of the First Commandment (I am the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods before me – Exodus 20:2-3).  The starting point of all our sin (as individuals and as a nation) stem from the fact that we have forsaken the Lord as our God.  Oh, we may honor Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13).  We are like those of Luke 19:11-14, who said they hated the master, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

And, I pray Psalm 33:12 (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…), confessing and acknowledging the fact that as a nation we are moving in the exact opposite direction of seeking God as our nation’s Lord.  (More on the Right Hand Kingdom’s role in all this next week)

I ask God to restore unto us a true and right understanding of our good and godly heritage, as well as our constitutional framework of governance, and a love and appreciation for both, that we might be good stewards of what has been gifted to us.

Remember Hosea’s words: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

It seems to me that good stewardship of our citizenship in the Left Hand Kingdom begins with knowledge – knowledge and understanding, love and appreciation for our goodly heritage and our constitutional framework of governance.

Let’s pray throughout this Lenten Season that God would search our national heart and try our nation’s thoughts, revealing to us our waywardness and restoring unto us true knowledge and appreciation of what makes a nation blessed, so that we may forever be “one nation under God” to His glory and to the advancement of His kingdom on earth.