America is beautiful. Across its vast lands can be found such spectacles of nature and human industry that would make history itself jealous. Our economic successes are legendary, our global prominence is rarely rivaled, our innovations lead the world in numerous fields, and our natural resources seem nearly inexhaustible. The holder of the office of U.S. President is said to be the leader of the free world.

It's hard to imagine America ever being anything but deserving of the title Superpower.

Studying the tragic downfall of Pharaoh this week and imagining the wreckage that was made of the mighty nation of Egypt, a sobering thought arose...

What stands between America the beautiful and America the desolate?

Is it our armies? Our money? Our oceans that separate us from other superpowers? Is it our technology, cleverness, economic treaties, or importance to other countries?

All of these are points at which a nation may be seen to stand or fall, but none of them is the right answer to the question.

Reading Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, reminded me of the single reality that stands between purple mountains’ majesty and smoldering ruins:

“’[T]is only the Power and meer Pleasure of God…”

Nothing more and nothing less. Edwards warned his original hearers that it is an easy thing for God to bring down any person to judgment, no matter how thoroughly they have sought to plan against it. In fact, he noted that the only thing God would need to do for catastrophe to occur is cease restraining the wickedness already present in our hearts.

As we look around at our land and the callous way in which we taunt the God of heaven with our wicked panoply of false gods, made right here in the USA, we must wonder – why hasn’t God ruined us yet? Why does God still allow us to wake up, go to work, shop at grocery stores, send our children to schools, go on vacations, mow green lawns, watch our favorite shows on TV, and acquire wealth in our bank accounts?

Why indeed. Is there any institution in America that does not relish brazen insults against the God whose mere pleasure alone stands between us and disaster? Are there any of His laws that we do not as a country seem to delight in violating? Have we not in a single generation exhausted the resources of all previous generations and borrowed into the future with numbers the human mind cannot even comprehend?

The mere pleasure of God. I cannot think why God deigns to continue giving it.

Some day God may choose to lay our proud nation low. When that day comes, some will say, “We never saw it coming.” But we should have. We should see it coming now. God is patient, but will by no means leave the guilty unpunished forever.

Every day we wake to a nation enjoying relative peace is a day for which we must be grateful. America’s future lies in repentance or ruin, and we do not seem interested in repentance at the moment. In fact, our hearts are fossilizing.

The humiliation of Egypt should remind us daily that God’s mere pleasure is our amazing grace.