Proverbs 14:34-35

Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a disgrace to any people.
The king shows favor to a wise servant,
but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully.

I don’t want to get into the whole debate about whether or not God has “withdrawn his hand of blessing” from our country. I know there are many who feel that way. And that as a result of our becoming a post-Christian country, He has removed his hand from blessing us. I don’t know. I don’t want to presume for God – and there are matters that are only for God to know.

However, what we learn today is that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. This verse (as with all of Proverbs) is not a promise. Instead these are observations about the way things generally work. There are exceptions to these rules, but these are the norm.

And you would have to agree that this is the norm. When a nation is righteous, it is going to be in a better position than if it is living in the opposite way. What I mean is that the ways of righteousness are the ways to live that we have discussed in the past 129 days. The ways of righteousness are wisdom and understanding – right living. A nation that is living in righteousness will also make good decisions about finances and debt, etc.

So, you can see if a country is righteous it will naturally result in exaltation. If a country’s people are living righteously, then their nation will also be blessed because the people who lead and serve the country will be wise people.

Wouldn’t it be great if we started pursuing righteousness as a nation? Of course, that’s not going to happen at a governmental level. And I don’t think that it should. I think a lot of what we see happening in government is a result of a complacent people and church. If we were being righteous, the needy would be getting what they need from the righteous and not have to try to squeeze it out of something that wasn’t intended to provide that.

But, what if we as people who are trying to live the Proverbious life became crusaders of righteousness? What if we not only tried to live our lives righteously, but we started trying to bring others along for the journey? If you’ve been trying to live righteously, then I’m guessing that you’ve noticed the impact it’s had on your life and on the lives of those around you. Can you imagine what it would look like if you started trying to bring others along with you in the journey? If your Proverbious life leads to another person pursing the same – that could really begin to change a lot of groups of people.