Praying For Your Nation

TEXT: AMOS 7:1-6

KEY VERSE: “Then said I , O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee; by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small” (Amos 7:5).

It is strange that we do exactly the opposite of what God commands. God says we shouldn’t waste precious time and energy on anxiety about what we cannot change on our own. But that is what we do: complaining about our country and its leaders and ignoring the great natural and human resources He has given us.

Amos was different. God had showed him a vision of the impending judgment on Israel. The Lord was preparing to unleash a swarm of locusts on the farmlands of Israel to destroy their crops and further impoverish them because of their sins. In the vision, Amos observed that the grasshoppers ate up even the grass of the land. He knew that if he did nothing, the vision would materialise. So, he began to pray and plead with the Lord to forgive Israel their sins. He reminded God that Israel was so small and had no other hope of deliverance but the Lord Himself. Expectedly, the merciful God hearkened to the prayers of Amos. But the people of Israel did not change their ways.

So, God showed Amos another vision of His anger against the land. This time, it was to be in the form of fire that would consume large part of the land of Israel. Again, Amos went on his knees, pleading with the Lord to cease from destroying the land by fire, stating as at the first time, that Israel was so small and had no chance of survival except by the grace of God.

If we are genuinely concerned about the rot in the society, the solution does not lie in grumbling; it does not lie either in the tons of writings on corruption and its allied evils; nor is the solution in endless cycles of violent protests and strikes. God’s Word says righteousness exalts a nation. The corollary then is to go on our knees and plead with God for the salvation of both the citizens and the leaders. When there is genuine repentance, righteousness will follow and we shall have peace and prosperity.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Revival of righteousness in the land can be secured only on our knees.