November 4, 2024
On Praying for Our Nation
May we plead for mercy?
By: Karyn Simmons
It’s election eve, and I am reminded yet again of a viewpoint that seems to be common among some of the most committed Christians I know. It comes dressed in different language, but the basic premise is the same: “America has offended a just and righteous God and deserves to suffer punishment; therefore, we ought not to pray for a favorable result of this election.”
While America’s sins are indeed so public as to make listing them superfluous, I would suggest that our wickedness is not unique in the history of the world. The ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had a reputation for sexual depravity that is unmatched to this day. Ancient Nineveh’s reputation for atrocities was so great that other city-states surrendered to the Assyrian forces rather than risk incurring their wrath and reprisals. Babylon, too, was known for its ferocity. And even God’s chosen nations of Israel and Judah sank so deep into idol worship and child sacrifice that God vowed to eject them from the land He had promised them as an eternal possession.
In each of these instances, however, the judgment of God was tempered or postponed due to the influence and prayers of righteous men.
The 18th chapter of Genesis recounts the story of Abraham’s plea for mercy on behalf of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. While resting in the doorway of his tent at midday, Abraham received a visit from three heavenly beings. After enjoying their host’s hospitality, two of the visitors continued toward Sodom and Gomorrah; the third remained in conversation with Abraham.
And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?…And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. (Genesis 18:17-18, 20-26)
Abraham continued negotiating with God, pleading for mercy even if only forty-five righteous were found in the city, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally ten. Each time, God promised to spare the entire city if the requested threshold of righteous individuals were met. Though only four were found and the cities were destroyed, it is noteworthy that God was not offended by Abraham’s pleas for mercy; in fact, He honored Abraham’s repeated requests.
God also chose to extend His mercy to the city of Nineveh, regardless of their wickedness. He sent a Jewish prophet to bear a message to the Assyrian capital city: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2) The prophet was understandably reluctant to bear God’s word to his nation’s mortal enemy, but he eventually yielded. Much to his chagrin, the king of Nineveh himself called for public repentance.
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes…And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. (Jonah 3:4-6, 10)
Worth noting is God’s explanation for his offer of mercy to Nineveh: “Then said the Lord…should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand [120,000] persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” In modern language, God had mercy on Nineveh because of the infants and toddlers who lived there.
Nebuchadnezzar the Great, builder of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the famous Ishtar Gate, was also a recipient of God’s mercy. At the height of his power, the king received a strange vision depicting an immense tree which was felled without warning, but its stump was left in the field. His advisor, the Jewish captive Daniel, rightly interpreted the vision as a threat to punish Nebuchadnezzar for his pride. He pleaded with the king to mend his ways and thus avoid the judgment of God:
Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. (Daniel 4:27)
It seems Nebuchadnezzar took Daniel’s advice. The 4th chapter of the book of Daniel records, in the king’s own words, the story of how he successfully avoided punishment for a full year before his pride defeated his resolve and brought God’s promised judgment upon him.
Finally, the influence of a single righteous king was sufficient to obtain God’s mercy on behalf of the entire nation of Judah (the remnant of David’s kingdom), even though earlier rulers had repeatedly failed to fulfill God’s requirements for His people. That king, Josiah, led the nation in a spiritual renewal. He repaired the temple, he rediscovered God’s law and restored it to prominence, and he stamped out idolatry, witchcraft, child sacrifice, and homosexuality throughout the land. In response, God gave him a message by the hand of a prophetess:
And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. (2 Kings 22:15-20)
History records that Josiah ruled Judah for 31 years, the last king to enjoy a stable reign. Twelve years and three kings later, Nebuchadnezzar the Great conquered the nation and deported its nobles to Babylon.
No one could argue that Sodom and Gomorrah, Nineveh, Babylon, or even Judah had any right to receive mercy from God. But God is a God of mercy. Micah 7:18 explains that “he delighteth in mercy,” and Jonah cited God’s mercy as his reason for fleeing rather than going directly to Nineveh: “…was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”
America, of course, has no claim on God’s mercy either. But that’s the whole point. “Mercy,” explains Merriam-Webster, “implies compassion that forbears punishing even when justice demands it.” So go vote tomorrow, and then pray earnestly to the God Who “delights in mercy.” Perhaps He is counting the number of righteous today as He did in Sodom, considering the presence of thousands of infants as He did in Nineveh, and will “lengthen our tranquillity” as He did for Nebuchadnezzar and Josiah.
