About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

The Creation Of National Wealth

In Deuteronomy 8:10 through 20 God reminded Israel to obey Him when it became wealthy, and why?  If Israel ever forgot God it would claim its wealth was a product of its "own power and strength."  Deuteronomy 8:17 reads:

"You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.'"

God then told Israel where its wealth originated and it was not from Israel.  Verse 18 says this:

"Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth." 

The fact that Israel's accumulated wealth was a product of God's ingenuity and not its ingenuity is relevant for our once Biblical influenced western nations.    

Since the Reformation of the sixteenth century western culture has affirmed its Christian values.  Unlike those nations that did not embrace the Reformation, I believe the West, including America, has been blessed with wealth because of its adherence to these Christian values.  Most American Christians would agree with me on that point.  Founded upon, or at least influenced by Christian values, America has become wealthy.  If indeed America, and the West, has become wealthy because of God's blessing, then God's warning to Israel becomes a warning to America and the West.      

Like Israel of old, the West is forgetting, or has already forgotten, God and its Biblically influenced roots.  Generally and culturally speaking, the West, including America, no longer attributes its wealth to the Lord, but to its own ability and ingenuity.  I am sure you have heard the words "American ingenuity."  I believe that proves my point.   

Deuteronomy 8:19 and 20 state the fate of a nation that rejects God by forgetting where its wealth originated.  The text reads:

"If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God."

This admonition was a solemn warning to Israel, but I maintain that it is also a warning to the western world nations today.  If the West continues to reject the source of its wealth, God can, and I believe He will, one way or another, take it away from us.  At that point, national poverty is just a few steps away from a nation's demise.