A Great Nation

“Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34

In 1892, honoring the four-hundredth anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of America, the Pledge of Allegiance, America’s most common form of paying respect to a national emblem, became popular and was widely used in schools in every state. In 1954, an act of Congress inserted the phrase “under God” so the pledge would read “one nation under God.” Over 50 years later, this phrase was brought into question by atheists and even ruled unconstitutional by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Proverbs 14 says that a nation under God is a great nation. It’s not merely citizens that make a nation great. Godliness makes a nation great because citizens who are living by just and godly principles will produce just and godly actions. Psalm 33:12 reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” 

While individuals must choose whether they will serve the Lord, collectively any nation can become great if its citizens choose God’s ways over their own.