Shane Legler

Ben Franklin, arguably one of the least religious of America’s founders, once remarked that “the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men.” Ben came to gradually recognize this truth, but it is a truth that the Christian faith insists upon. As a father who cares about his creation, God does correct nations and peoples who veer off course. He intervenes because he cares for his creation. This is the testimony of scripture.

Correction comes to the nation that does not honor the Lord’s will, but it amazes me that people, like the Pharaoh in Moses’ time, will not believe that God is correcting them when it occurs. Unless the Lord should rip open the sky and scream from heaven, we are prone to explain away any correction as if it were “bad luck.” There are two kinds of people who explain away God’s correction: the clueless who do not acknowledge God and the self-righteous who are a law unto themselves.

I don’t know about you all, but when I was a child, it was unwise to ignore the correction of my parents. If I did not respond to mild correction, they amped it up until I got the message. Therefore, it is of greatest importance that we do recognize the correction of God. Since we have become a people prone to live as practical atheists even when we do acknowledge God with our lips, it is good to be reminded of what God’s correction looks like so we may turn from our error and seek God’s forgiveness when it comes.

God’s correction of Egypt in Isaiah 19 is a great example of what the correction of God looks like. In that passage, the Lord corrected the Egyptian people by removing their national peace and unity so that Egyptian was set against Egyptian and each fought against his neighbor (19:2). He also dispirited them and confounded their counsel (19:3). Thus, the nation had neither the will to defend its interests nor the ability to do so even if it had the will. Their leaders were bereft of good sense and good judgment so that their every plan ended in ruin.

God also removed the source of Egypt’s earthly strength (19:5-7). The source of Egypt’s strength was the Nile. Unlike Egypt, it could be argued that America’s earthly strength comes from her vast energy resources. Additionally, the Lord took away Egypt’s livelihood (19:8-10). When the Nile dried up, all agriculture and industry in Egypt dried up with it. All that we have comes from God’s hand. When we can no longer handle it, he takes it away just as a parent may take away the phone and car keys from a wayward child.

Sadly, the correction did not end there. The Lord also caused the Egyptians to be ruled by fools and gave them over to confusion so that the country staggered around as if it were drunk (19:11-14). Ultimately, he would also take away the liberty of Egypt (19:4). All liberty comes from the Author of Liberty, and the nation who walks far from him shall not be at liberty. Finally, God made the Egyptians recognize their own helplessness. They were powerless to prevent the Lord’s correction from happening (19:15-17).

This is what the correction of God on a nation looks like. The heavens aren’t rent asunder, and the Lord does not throw lightning down from on high. Rather, he moves his own creation in correction. Now, the question I put to you, dear reader is this: Is America under God’s correction? You will have to look at the Scripture and discern that answer for yourselves. For my part, I have no doubt that God has been trying to get our attention as a people for some time. 

However, we may rejoice in the fact that God’s correction is for our ultimate good. 

If we read to the end of Isaiah 19, we see that the goal of God’s correction is redemption. May we pray for our people that there may be a turning away from sin and a turning toward the Lord. That we may continue to enjoy the blessings of God. As George Washington put it, may we implore God to “imprint upon our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to him… to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits; to dispose us to merit the continuance of his favors by not abusing them.” 

In short, let us recognize the correction of God and get right with him before worse things befall us.

(Shane Legler is the pastor of Garland Community Church of God.)