INTRODUCTION

Only one nation (Israel) holds a promise from God that it will never be utterly destroyed; every other nation must fervently guard its affairs to ensure its continued and future existence. According to scripture, “sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
See All...), and “the mouth of the wicked” can overthrow an entire city (Proverbs 11:11By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
See All...). Thrones and empires are terminated because of the unruly evil of sin (Proverbs 16:12It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
See All...). The Bible says that “the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,” and He “will destroy it from off the face of the earth” (Amos 9:8Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
See All...). For this reason, it is important to recognize that nations rise or fall because of their choice to sin or their refusal to partake therein.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For children): God chose a land for His people. This land was already inhabited. Read why God was going to drive them out (Deuteronomy 9:4-5 [4] Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. [5] Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
  See All...). Later, God punished His people for doing the same wickedness (2 Kings 17:7-14 [7] For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, [8] And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. [9] And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. [10] And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: [11] And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: [12] For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. [13] Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. [14] Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
  See All..., 22-23; 2 Kings 21:9-15 [9] But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. [10] And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, [11] Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: [12] Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. [13] And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. [14] And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; [15] Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.
  See All...; Jeremiah 25:9-12 [9] Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. [10] Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. [11] And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. [12] And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
  See All...).
• (For everyone): Biblically speaking, what are the sins in which your country has chosen to partake? How are these sins eventually going to result in the downfall of your land?
• What are some nations (or people groups) found in the Bible that ceased to exist because of sin? What would it suggest about God if He failed to judge others guilty of the same sins?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Pray for the preachers in your land who are preaching the truth.
• Ask God to cause repentance to begin in your own home.

HYMN

COME THOU ALMIGHTY KING

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