Was America Blessed Or Just Lucky?

Was America God Blessed Or Just Lucky

The history of the United States displays an uncanny pattern of receiving and reflecting God's blessings. Psalm 33:12 reads, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.” Our Creator has certainly blessed America in many marvelous ways: Abundant natural beauty is found all across our land, including timbered forests, lush green valleys, richly fertile farmlands, the bountiful Great Plains, snow-capped Rocky Mountains, and warm California beaches.

At exact moments of America's many crises and when disaster looked overwhelmingly imminent, and all likelihood was against success, then God's hands reached down for our betterment. His actions provided deliverance and protected our fledgling, God-fearing nation.

History shows our godly heritage. Most of the men who signed our Constitution were Christians. Our democracy was founded on Christian principles interwoven with biblical-centered interpretations of moral justice, God-given rights, and abundant opportunities.

He’s blessed us with tremendous natural resources. Just consider the blessings placed at our feet: coal, minerals, oil, forests, lakes, pastures, farmlands, and more. He’s provided all that we need and enough to help other countries around the world when they are overwhelmed by man-made entanglements like war and poverty or natural disasters.

The men and women that founded our great nation were seeking religious freedom and relief from tyrannical government leaders. We excel in inventions and new ideas because we’re at liberty to follow our dreams. U.S. households donate billions to charities each year. Our typical household’s annual gifts add up to about 2,500 dollars. Per Capita, Americans voluntarily donate about seven times as much as continental Europeans. In 2019, the figure was 449 billion dollars. Free enterprise and the bounties of capitalism we enjoy in America is a remarkable blessing. Still, we must remember all the blessings and gifts that flow through our hands to others come from our Father God.

Up to the present day, God has placed us in a free country. We should thank God for the election process and the freedom to personally impact the direction of this nation. It’s an amazing blessing that’s completely foreign in many parts of the world. We should pray that our citizenship's democratic voting process maintains its integrity, which has seen grave reversals in recent years.

But this essay is not only about natural resources and the freedoms provided by our Constitution. No, it's about examples where God intervened and lifted us out of very tenuous situations. Historians may categorize some of these incidents as blissful accidents or the product of an intervening fate, but the most notable leaders of the past four hundred years have identified many of these good fortunes as divine providence. In a demonstration of America's miracles, we will recount just a handful of the most significant events in America's rise to prosperity and power.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a notable German poet, said very early on in our history, right after America was launched, that there was something special, destined, different about America. That's what America's exceptionalism means. It doesn't mean American is perfect! But we are willing to improve. Goethe was a very spiritual philosopher. A small snippet of a portion of one of his famous quotes says, “The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, and cities. But to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.”

God has been with us before we were a nation. From the writing of the Constitution to the Civil War, His actions reveal a record of improbabilities and astonishing events. Which supported what the Founders initially believed, that this country grew and prospered according to a master plan and God's guiding hands. Then we were a nation of Christian and God-fearing people. Are we today? Unfortunately, I think not.

God's destiny for the United States certainly plays an unmistakable role among the stirring, illogical episodes that will be described herein.

A ship filled with adventurous but desperate religious pilgrims were blown hopelessly off course, only to be deposited on a wild shoreline reasonably suited for their survival.

Decades later, during the Revolutionary War, George Washington's cold, downtrodden, and famished army surrounded by ruthless foes was on the threshold of obliteration. Yet, by the grace of God, they managed an impossible escape due to an unpredicted weather change.

Napoleon Bonaparte had made a secret deal with Spain, and France gained control of the Louisiana Territory in exchange for several duchies in northern Italy. As the first emperor of France, he had visions of expanding his empire to the North American continent, where vast resources could be used to supply France’s colonies in the French Caribbean. He recognizing an early 1800s power vacuum on the Continent. England recently ended the war against the Americans, as well as the Spanish, while the other European powers with settlements in the fledgling United States were deemed too weak to pose any real threat to France. Yes, Napoleon felt there was little to fear from the United States army or navy, which were in no position to challenge the military might of France after expending so many lives and so much wealth in the Revolutionary War.