Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
A nation is blessed when the LORD is its God, and the people He has chosen belong to Him as His own inheritance. That blessing stands with the LORD's enduring counsel and His choice of a people for Himself, and with His care for those who fear Him and hope in His mercy. It belongs with the psalm's teaching that God's work is faithful and that He loves righteousness and justice. The following verses show that the LORD looks from heaven upon all people, affirming that His rule and care extend over the whole earth and all its inhabitants.
The God of heaven is not like the gods of the heathen confined to temples made with hands; He dwells in heaven, yet He meets with His people by His Spirit when they assemble for His worship and honors their assemblies with His presence. The psalm instructs in the Lord's ways, calling people to reflect the divine image in thought and action rather than promote self, while the Lord impresses, refines, and purifies the heart, mind, and life. Israel would represent the people whose God is the Lord only by reflecting His character of purity, goodness, and benevolence. Their distrust, pride, and unbelief left them unprepared to enter Canaan, though trusting God's direction and walking in His ordinances would have settled them there long before as a prosperous, holy, and happy people. Their delay dishonored God and obscured His power and glory before the surrounding nations.
The United States is shown as a greatly blessed and favored nation because the Lord shielded it and poured upon it the choicest blessings of heaven, making it a refuge for the persecuted and oppressed, a place where the Christian faith in its purity has been taught, and a people given great light and unrivaled mercies. That blessed standing brings accountability, for God keeps a reckoning with nations and measures guilt by light rejected, and ingratitude and forgetfulness of God already stand as a fearful record. The measure of national iniquity will be filled up by making void the law of God.
A nation is blessed when the LORD is its God, and the people He has chosen belong to Him as His own inheritance. That blessing stands with the LORD's enduring counsel and His choice of a people for Himself, and with His care for those who fear Him and hope in His mercy. It belongs with the psalm's teaching that God's work is faithful and that He loves righteousness and justice. The following verses show that the LORD looks from heaven upon all people, affirming that His rule and care extend over the whole earth and all its inhabitants.
The God of heaven is not like the gods of the heathen confined to temples made with hands; He dwells in heaven, yet He meets with His people by His Spirit when they assemble for His worship and honors their assemblies with His presence. The psalm instructs in the Lord's ways, calling people to reflect the divine image in thought and action rather than promote self, while the Lord impresses, refines, and purifies the heart, mind, and life. Israel would represent the people whose God is the Lord only by reflecting His character of purity, goodness, and benevolence. Their distrust, pride, and unbelief left them unprepared to enter Canaan, though trusting God's direction and walking in His ordinances would have settled them there long before as a prosperous, holy, and happy people. Their delay dishonored God and obscured His power and glory before the surrounding nations.
The United States is shown as a greatly blessed and favored nation because the Lord shielded it and poured upon it the choicest blessings of heaven, making it a refuge for the persecuted and oppressed, a place where the Christian faith in its purity has been taught, and a people given great light and unrivaled mercies. That blessed standing brings accountability, for God keeps a reckoning with nations and measures guilt by light rejected, and ingratitude and forgetfulness of God already stand as a fearful record. The measure of national iniquity will be filled up by making void the law of God.