One of the most understated yet tragically consequential phrases can be found in the eighth verse of the first chapter of Exodus…
Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Exodus 1:8, KJV
The Pharaohs who knew Joseph or who at least remembered his name and legacy were kind to the children of Israel (Joseph’s father). The Pharaohs who knew Joseph (directly or indirectly) knew what Joseph had done for Egypt and they showed kindness and favor to the Israelite people.
But this changes in Exodus 1:8.
Now, Egypt has a Pharaoh who “knew not Joseph.” And the consequences to the children of Israel would be catastrophic and dreadful. Enslavement followed along with policies of infanticide.
Most Christians reading this story understand that God was still at work. And that is true. Egyptian oppression did not thwart the plans or promises of God. Nevertheless…
I can’t help but see a very practical lesson for us today.
If the Egyptian leaders (starting at the top with Pharaoh) had not been allowed to forget Joseph, the children of Israel would never have been enslaved. And thousands (maybe more?) of their babies would not have been murdered.
“But it had to happen that way for God to…”
Stop! God can work through suffering and He can work through victory. He works in the valley and on the mountaintop. And just because things turned out a certain way doesn’t mean God was pleased with everything that turned out the way it did.
Doubt me? Consider the story of Jonah. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah went the opposite direction in defiance. Now, Jonah ended up eventually going to Nineveh, but did Jonah have to rebel in order for God to get him to Nineveh? Of course not! Jonah could have obeyed right away in the first place!
Our ultimate purpose is to please God and serve Him — and to come into alignment with His purposes. All that is true. This doesn’t mean, however, that we can be or should be fatalistic about all our choices. We can’t say: “Well it doesn’t matter if I obey God right away or not, because it’s all going to work out in the end anyway!” That’s NOT how we should be thinking. We should be striving to please Him at all times.
So, with that in mind…
Can we agree that, even though God still got His people to the Promised Land, it wasn’t good for God’s people to go through all the pain, misery, and suffering they went through?
“But God sometimes has to make us suffer to teach us…”
Yes, He does. But that’s because of our sin and selfishness. God sometimes has to break us to build us up. But that doesn’t mean we should be content to be sinful and selfish! We should instead live in such a way that God doesn’t have to break us down to build us up.
All of that is introductory to the main point I want to make, which is…
Christians in America are doing our country and ourselves a terrible disservice by letting our nation forget the founding principles upon which the United States was built.
Ignorance of history, in general, leads to disastrous consequences for the future. But when it comes to a constitutional republic like the United States, the consequences are even more dreadful.
And, if you’re a Christian, then you especially should not welcome leaders who don’t know (and respect) our Founding Fathers, nor should you be content with generations who have no knowledge (or completely inaccurate knowledge) of the American founding.
The Founding Fathers of the United States left a profound legacy that has significantly shaped the course of the nation and influenced democracies around the world. Despite the criticisms associated with their era, particularly regarding issues such as slavery and the exclusion of certain groups from the political process, the positive contributions of the Founding Fathers are foundational and enduring.
The positive legacy of the Founders includes (but is, by no means, limited to) the crafting of the most enduring written Constitution in human history, the establishment of republican democracy complete with separation of powers as well as checks and balances, written protections of individual human rights (aka the Bill of Rights), civilian oversight of the military (thank you, George Washington!), peaceful transfer of power (again, thank you, George Washington!), formulating a stable and generally free economic system (thank you, Washington and Alexander Hamilton), and laying the groundwork for the abolition of slavery (an institution they did not create, but inherited) and the expansion of civil rights to all Americans.
Oh, and you can thank the Founders for setting us up to become the most prosperous, most powerful, and comparatively most stable nation in the history of mankind.
That just scratches the surface, but if you’re not grateful for these things, then you need to check yourself. You need to work on your heart and your attitude.
We, as Christians, should be particularly grateful because the Founding Fathers (by eventual consensus) set up a nation that respected the institutional separation of Church and State while, at the same time, acknowledging our dependence upon and need for God. They gave us a system that protected religious freedom.
After the Constitutional Convention, when a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government had been formed, Franklin replied: “A republic if you can keep it.”
If we forget our Founders, we will have an extremely tough time keeping our republic.
For some, that may be okay. Not with me. And it shouldn’t be okay with any of you either.
Yes, God can work through anything — including evil rulers and terrible times. God can work through the United States or He can work through China, Russia, North Korea — or an apocalyptic wasteland. His love and His providence aren’t limited by human governments or human borders.
But…
Trusting in God’s grace and power doesn’t mean that we should forget to be grateful for our blessings, nor does it mean we should squander them!
When that evil Pharaoh rose up who had forgotten Joseph, God’s people paid a hefty price. The more we forget our Founders and the good that they did, the more we will pay a hefty price. And thus…
While my primary obligation and responsibility is to glorify God and advance His kingdom, I will also — as a Christian living in the United States — raise my voice to make sure that we don’t forget our national heritage. And in that spirit, as we approach the Fourth of July, I close this post with…
God bless the United States of America!
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