Happy Is the Nation

For many Americans, July 4 is a holiday of remembrance. We think on our nation’s history and the bravery of the Second Continental Congress who approved a Resolution of Independence on July 2 proposed by Richard Lee of Virginia. That same assembly then passed the adoption of the Declaration of Independence two days later on July 4. Eventually, 56 men would affix their signatures to that document. One of the signers, William Ellery of Rhode Island, took a position during the signing from which he could watch the face of each delegate as he signed his name to the Declaration of Independence.

I was determined to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrant. I placed myself beside the secretary, Charles Thomson, and eyed each closely as he affixed his name to the document. Undaunted resolution was displayed in every countenance.

Similarly, Benjamin Franklin is oft-credited to have quipped: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately.” So, many of us remember Independence Day with respect to their “undaunted resolution” as a day to honor heroes, to remember our history, and to remind one another to continue to cherish and to keep secure certain self-evident, God-given, “unalienable rights” such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Of course, 232 years later we recognize that Independence Day now means a number of other things to our citizens. The date signals a longer weekend for excursions like picnics, fireworks, and barbeques. For a startling number of younger residents, “Independence Day” is a 1996 sci-fi blockbuster with some sort of enigmatic reference to July 4. How quickly and subtly our memories can be trained to forget or regard lightly the freedoms we enjoy because of the courage and sacrifice of our founders!

In 1905, George Santayana wrote:

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

When we fail not only to remember our heritage but also to remind our children of our history, we surrender our future to the worst enemies of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Those enemies include the neglect and ignorance of truth and enslavement to self-indulgence. When we forget the lessons forged by lives that produced “undaunted resolution” in the face of certain struggle, perhaps even to the point of death, we lose the firm grounding, the confident convictions that yielded that resolve. Courageous men and women of conviction typically found such solid footing on the principles and propositions of God’s Word, and so may we.

For instance, the Bible declares: “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). We would do well today not only to reflect the character of our nation’s forefathers, but also to learn and govern our own lives on the same truths that molded that character. “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.” If we would continue to pursue happiness, to enjoy liberty, and to cherish life, then we should understand the only true Source for these aims is God.

“Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.” What does this really mean, anyway? Consider the verse in context. I suggest you take time to read and ponder Psalm 33. But for the moment, focus on these three verses, Psalm 33:10-12.

¹⁰ The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations;
He thwarts the plans of the peoples.
¹¹ The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of His heart from generation to generation.
¹² Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord –
the people He has chosen to be His own possession!

Why would God frustrate the counsel of the nations or thwart the plans of the peoples? Well, have you taken a close look at the current counsel of the nations or plans of the peoples? God allows nations to confer and people to make plans because He wants humanity to make good choices. The wisest choices always begin with a choice to know the only plans and purposes guaranteed to prevail and to secure the kind of satisfying joy for which we were all fashioned in the first place. John Piper writes:

The point of these verses is that both men and God take counsel, and both plan. But in the end it is not the counsel and plans of men that are established, but of God's. It is all-important to realize that God plans the world and He plans churches and He plans lives – and His plans succeed. His plans take precedence over our plans. Our plans have significance and durability to the degree that God plans for our plans to be significant and durable. God is the all-important reality in planning from beginning to end. God's will is for that to be known, to be explicit, to be admired and enjoyed (John Piper, “The Counsel of the Lord Stands Forever,” June 12, 1994).

What is the measure of your resolve? As another July 4 weekend concludes, I urge you to renew your personal Declaration of Dependence (not a typo). Declare with me a total dependence upon the Lord God, Whose purposes prevail and are always right and true and powerful and joyful. I will find my “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as His possession.

Pastor Rob