“So what does it mean for God to bless America? What does that look like?” A friend asked this question on Facebook on the 4th of July and I instantly knew I had to do some work on that! What a question! I sat with it a bit and then opened my Bible. I guess if we want to know about blessings, we look to the source, right? Then I opened my laptop, moved the kitten, moved the kitten again, and got to work.
God Bless America is a song we all have heard with familiar lyrics written by the incredible Irving Berlin during World War 1. It’s a patriotic love letter, and a true prayer, asking for peace & guidance for the nation. He revised it again in 1938 before our involvement began in earnest in World War II. Berlin loved this nation since coming here as a refugee when he was a child. You can see the love in the lyrics.
God Bless America
Land that I love!
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
From what I could find in an admittedly short amount of real research, the song is the first common usage of the phrase “God Bless America.” But what does it mean today? What does it look like to be blessed by God?
There is a wildly popular view of Christianity in the United States today. Dietrich Bonhoeffer described it as “Cheap Grace.” God has a wonderful plan for your life! Just follow these steps and you’re saved. It’s a name it-claim it prosperity Gospel that requires very little of us. There’s no repentance or suffering involved in this theology. “Take up our cross” certainly isn’t literal. Ask and you shall receive! It’s embodied on the famed #BLESSED bumper sticker on a fancy car. A rich, successful, self-serving life of #WINNING.
I have bad news: This is not the kind of thing God means when he talks of blessings. In fact, nothing that is self-serving could be further from what God wants. Also, feel free to check behind me, but outside of Israel itself, God doesn’t make agreements with nations. There is no covenant with the United States. The New Covenant is with followers of Jesus Christ.
So what DOES God bless? I read the Beatitudes for that. Jesus was speaking to the crowd in Matthew 5. It’s by far the greatest sermon ever given, The Sermon on the Mount. I imagine as he sat down and looked around, he spoke to the people he saw.
He noticed a person’s eyes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
He may have looked at another person, his heart aching for their pain:
Blessed are those who mourn.
He smiled at another:
Blessed are the meek
Maybe he slightly nodded in understanding at another:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
He smiles gently and looks at the crowd, all of these people that he loves:
Blessed are the merciful
Blessed are the pure in heart
Blessed are the peacemakers
Blessed are the persecuted.
I think God can absolutely bless Americans, but in my opinion, it will be individually as we are closer to Him. When we can look at a crowd of people and see those made in the image of Him, we will be blessed. God bless us, every one!
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