Isaiah 48:1 “Listen to this, O house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel
and come from the line of Judah,
you who take oaths in the name of the LORD
and invoke the God of Israel –
but not in truth or righteousness…”

This certainly sounds to me like it’s talking about America today. The word “God” is almost always presumed to refer to the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, and in courts and swearing-in ceremonies across the nation people say, “So help me God,” yet the Name of the Lord is far more often used in profanity. There seems to be little if any fear of God, of eternal consequences, especially in the “upper circles” of the nation. (That is, those who are considered by themselves and others to be the “movers and shakers.”) Many would agree that America is in increasingly dire straits, but too few recognize that it is a spiritual problem. Many people seem to want a political solution, or at least an economic one, but the problem is much deeper than that. Over the past half century or more there has been a con­certed push to get God and the Bible out of the public square, and that has been the source of the current crisis. People have been lulled, or rather numbed, by modern entertainment, particularly movies and television, into accepting the worst of society as the norm, rather than a sad aberration. Consequently, society as a whole has taken a steep downward slide, and we are seeing the consequences. There are still many in America who do love God, even if they tend to relegate Him to a corner of their lives. America needs a revival indeed, a bringing back to life that which is moribund. (Japan also needs a massive move of the Holy Spirit, but it’s a misnomer to call it revival when Japan hasn’t been alive spiritually for over 400 years.) Those who name the Name of God need to start doing so in truth and righteous­ness, fearing Him instead of treating Him as a societal superstition. That one change would mark a tectonic shift in the right direction.

It’s perhaps easier for me to see the changes in America because I’ve lived outside of it for most of my life, but that gives me no room to be complacent about myself. I need to be sure my words are backed up by my life, that I don’t say one thing and do another. I am not to draw back from using the Name of the Lord, but I am to be sure I do so in truth and righteousness. I am to fear God more than the opinions of men. Only if I do so will I be fully available to God for Him to use me in accomplishing His will, drawing others to Him for their salvation and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me follow through, to live out the truth I know, so that I may not deceive myself but rather be powerfully effective in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!