THE SIGNS OF A GODLY NATION

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com. 

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king and strengthened himself against Israel. He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed His commands rather than the practices of Israel. The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah to teach in the towns of Judah. With them were certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not go to war against Jehoshaphat. Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats.

Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah and had large supplies in the towns of Judah. He also kept experienced fighting men in Jerusalem. Their enrollment by families was as follows:

From Judah, commanders of units of 1,000: Adnah the commander, with 300,000 fighting men; next, Jehohanan the commander, with 280,000; next, Amasiah son of Zikri, who volunteered himself for the service of the Lord, with 200,000.

From Benjamin: Eliada, a valiant soldier, with 200,000 men armed with bows and shields; next, Jehozabad, with 180,000 men armed for battle.

These were the men who served the king, besides those he stationed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

2 Chronicles 17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are a lot of nations in the world, 196 to be precise. It sounds like a lot until you consider that the world’s population totals over 7 billion. That simply means that there are nations out there with a whole lot of people like China and India who each have more than a billion people within their boundaries. The United States comes in a mere third with more than 320 million.

Now if people were power then these nations should be dominating the world stage. But when it comes right down to it, the God of all nations, the Maker and Creator of the heavens and earth, doesn’t gauge his favor on population size or land mass or national wealth. No, He is more interested in how much a nation is dedicated to Him. He wants a nation to be godly.

So how can a nation place itself in the godly category? How can they know they are pleasing God and doing the things that He rewards?

Well, we can answer those questions to a large extent by looking at a snapshot of what a godly nation looks like as portrayed in the 17th Chapter of 2 Chronicles. Here we find Jehoshaphat taking over as king of Judah after Asa’s death and immediately bringing about God-centered reform in the kingdom of Judah. Look again at the scriptures:

Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king and strengthened himself against Israel. He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed His commands rather than the practices of Israel. The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah to teach in the towns of Judah. With them were certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not go to war against Jehoshaphat. Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats.

Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah and had large supplies in the towns of Judah. He also kept experienced fighting men in Jerusalem. Their enrollment by families was as follows:

From Judah, commanders of units of 1,000: Adnah the commander, with 300,000 fighting men; next, Jehohanan the commander, with 280,000; next, Amasiah son of Zikri, who volunteered himself for the service of the Lord, with 200,000.

From Benjamin: Eliada, a valiant soldier, with 200,000 men armed with bows and shields; next, Jehozabad, with 180,000 men armed for battle.

These were the men who served the king, besides those he stationed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

Through this account, we can pinpoint four distinct signs of a godly nation. Let’s examine each of them.

1. A godly nation has a godly leader.

I’ve always felt that leadership starts at the top and works its way down from there. Partnered with this thought is a leadership axiom: If it isn’t important to leadership, it probably won’t be important to the people they’re leading. I know in more than 28 years of leadership experience, I have found this to nearly always be true.

So assessing a godly nation can start with assessing its leader and grade him or her on their level of dedication to God. Do they profess God and honor Him with their words and actions? Are their decisions based on God’s will and word? Do they quote the scriptures and use them as a foundation to build their ideals and policies? Do they implore their people to pursue and follow God themselves? To that end, are they a God-centered role model others will follow?

Yes, a godly nation starts with a godly leader who promotes a top-down godly agenda, encouraging their people to join them in placing God first in everything,

Looking at our passage, we find such a leader in Jehoshaphat. We read that the Lord was with him in leading Judah because Jehoshaphat was with the Lord. You may remember that God had promised earlier in this book that He would be with any nation who chose to be with Him. That promise still stood in the time of Jehoshaphat and it still stands today.

A godly leader is ever connected to God and in turn, God is always connected to that leader. That’s the first sign of a godly nation.

2. In a godly nation, the word of the Lord is accepted and taught throughout.

This is the second sign of a godly nation and it makes sense doesn’t it? Any nation needs a premise by which people live. Cultural values and norms need shaped by something. And national order and discipline is dictated by laws that govern how people are to live.

Any nation could opt to build their own rules, guidelines, and legislation to direct how the nation and its people operate or they could just opt to follow the guidance of the word of God and allow it to regulate and influence the nation’s action and behavior.

Going back to look at our example from Chapter 17, we find our godly leader Jehoshaphat intentionally sending out men to teach the people from the Book of the Law of the Lord. The people needed to know the standard by which they were being led and expected to follow. That standard was the word of God and any godly nation is centered on it.

3. A godly nation is feared by other nations.

Today, if you are a nation, you can either have 195 nations honoring you or 195 nations who would like to annihilate you. The tipping point hinges on God and how well a nation is connected to Him.

Judah was such a nation during the time of Jehoshaphat’s reign and as a result, the surrounding nations experienced the fear of the Lord. Attacking a godly nation was a fruitless endeavor, no matter how much the odds might appear stacked in the favor of the attacking nation. History had proven this as God had delivered a less mighty nation through His almighty power time and time again.

And so the surrounding nations of Judah didn’t bring challenge but rather tribute because they recognized that God was at the center of the nation’s affairs. Instead of attack, nations sent gifts as a sign of honor and respect - and perhaps self preservation.

Today, any nation who places God first can experience the same sense of security and peace. Nations will not choose to threaten because they will feel and revere the fear of the Lord.

This is the third sign of a godly nation.

4. A godly nation will flourish from God’s blessings.

When Judah’s King Jehoshaphat chose to partner fully with God and led his people to living godly, we see where God sent an abundance of blessings on them.

We know the surrounding nations sent riches so that Judah had large supplies within their towns. God brought more power to the nation as additional forts and store cities were constructed. We also read where Judah’s army grew in the number of experienced men, some of which were volunteering themselves for the service of the Lord.

Things were thriving in Judah and it was all because they were dedicated to the God who was dedicated to them and rewarded them for their faithfulness.

A nation where blessings flow abundantly from the heavenly hosts.

A nation that is at peace and not threatened by enemies.

A nation that is defended by those who wish to serve the Lord.

A nation that consistently displays godliness because they are centered on God’s word and way.

A nation who has a leader who is with God and in return finds God with him.

These are the signs of a godly nation.

Question: How is your nation measuring up?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com