Seemingly without warning, the American economic juggernaut stumbled and unraveled with frightening speed last year. Because of its size, its malady could not help but infect the global economy. Fear and uncertainty assaulted the heretofore supremely confident American facade.

Without doubt the crisis greatly influenced the U.S. electorate, helping to sweep Barack Obama and his "message of hope" into the White House. Now, nearly six months into the new administration, it's time to evaluate that hope.

Do Americans have reason to expect that their prosperity will soon return to the level long-enjoyed by the world's only superpower?

There may indeed be a reason to hope—but the basis for genuine hope is not in a president, congressperson, judge or business person. Nor is it in government intervention, whatever the mix of spending, reduced benefits or increased taxes.

All hope based solely on people or government action is going to disappoint.

Before America can recover, it must relearn the basis for its previous phenomenal success. Is it cleverness, ingenuity, a willingness to work hard? Such claims lack humility and sound judgment.

Until America remembers the basis for its achievements, it has no guarantee of returning to them.

A sign of hope

In April of this year, Somali pirates took hostage the captain of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship Maersk Alabama. After a successful rescue operation, a crew member observed: "In America now, things are down. It's not the best of times. Hopefully everybody in America can latch onto this maybe and use it as a sign of hope to show what being American is about."

There is some truth to his words! The brief flash of America's supreme military prowess brought some sunshine to a country inundated with dismal news. But whatever hope came from this dramatic rescue did not last long.

The news cycle quickly returned to discussions of the viability of America's automobile giants and its financial institutions, punctuated with perpetual reporting on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

And the hope is left hanging, without a certain end.

Because of the times, the swearing in of President Obama was billed as a time of great hope, which was reflected in the prayers offered during his inauguration ceremony. One of those prayers repeated the pattern of King Solomon's prayer of dedication at the inauguration of the temple. The prayer repeatedly called on God to forgive certain actions or attitudes.

News coverage of the inauguration focused on who said the prayers but not on the words spoken, which was a loss. For the words reflected Western thinking today. Here is what was said:

"When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget You, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us" (emphasis added throughout).

Do you notice anything missing from that prayer? We'll come back to this later in the article.

Soon after the rescue of the captain of the Maersk Alabama, thousands of Christians assembled to observe two biblical festivals, the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Perhaps more commonly associated with the Jewish faith, these festivals were nonetheless part of the faith practiced by Jesus Christ, His apostles and the New Testament Church of God.

What do these festivals have to do with hope in America? Everything.

God, the source of American greatness

Many Americans today believe that the Creator God is the source of their country's wealth and power and that without His benefits America would be nothing. They are correct! Unless or until America remembers this and takes appropriate action, its future is extremely uncertain!

The Bible shows that God gave ancient Israel the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread so that they would remember how their nation came into existence. Most of our readers are familiar with this history. God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt through a series of spectacular miracles.

When establishing the festivals for perpetual observance, God explained that the children of each generation would naturally inquire about the reason for doing so. And He instructed parents to teach their children about the remarkable birth of their nation and how He was the source of their greatness (see Exodus 13:14, 16).

God had a specific purpose in mind for requiring these observances. "That they [the Israelite generations springing from the nation of the Exodus] may set their hope in God" (Psalm 78:7).

Properly observed, these festivals would remind Israel annually of the basis of their strength. God had made them what they were.

The psalmist does not merely recite the history of Israel's beginning. He also related the end of its unique relationship with its Creator and founder. Not only did God make Israel; He also broke it.

The relationship God had with His people reached a breaking point, after which God withdrew His favor.

The historical record in Psalm 78 shows: "When God heard this, He was furious, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had placed among men, and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand. He also gave His people over to the sword, and was furious with His inheritance" (verses 59-62).

The breaking point

What happened that caused God to change so dramatically? What was the breaking point? The answer has everything to do with America at the present time.

Israel's sin wasn't merely forgetting an important anniversary or neglecting to appreciate God for what He had done. The repeated annual exercise of keeping Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread was designed to affect the behavior of Israel's people. Or in the psalmist's inspired words: "So each generation can set its hope anew on God, remembering his glorious miracles and obeying his commands" (Psalm 78:7, New Living Translation).

Israel enjoyed wealth, prosperity, political stability and military strength. The more successful its people were, the less inclined they were to subject themselves to the law God had given to them. God's definition of morality was separate in their thinking from politics, from finance, from military campaigns, from all their ethical choices.

It wasn't that God temperamentally dismissed them for human weaknesses or understandable imperfections. Read the history and you will see that He was remarkably restrained and patient. Yet He did reach a breaking point, a point after which He never restored the country to its previous strength.

The cycle repeated itself with Judah, which also strayed from obeying God's laws. As before, God was patient, giving the nation time to turn its behavior around, until He had no choice.

America needs to rehearse the biblical history, because it shows how God thinks. More importantly, the founding peoples of America are the descendants of the Israelites God rescued from Egypt! (See our booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.) America should still be observing the Passover and Unleavened Bread festivals—and heeding the message they memorialize.

God does not forever tolerate behavior that disregards His laws. He does not perpetually enrich, shelter, protect and otherwise bless a nation that disregards its special relationship with Him. God does not delight in the "politically correct" attitude that all gods are the same and that all faiths are the same. Such an attitude is merely another way of denying Him, just like Israel of old pursued the idols of the pagans.

The critical missing perspective

Now, let's go back to the inauguration prayer. Did you notice what was missing from it?

The prayer it is patterned after is found in 2 Chronicles 6, where King Solomon begged God to forgive Israel for mistakes. But there is more to the original prayer.

"Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive...If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants" (verses 21-27).

Do you see the understanding that was missing from the presidential inauguration prayer? God would forgive when people came to understand, admit and turn away from their failure to obey God's law.

Astonishingly, God answered King Solomon in a dream, something done only a few times in all of recorded history. God promised "...if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

The phrase "seek my face...then I will hear from heaven" employs symbolism about eye contact showing favor. These phrases reveal that God isn't forever automatically bestowing favor on people—that whether He hears their prayers depends on the relationship that the people have with Him.

To "humble themselves" and "turn from their wicked ways" is the classic definition of repentance. One has to admit and turn from sinful behavior as well as toward righteous behavior. This requires a person to research, study and investigate the concepts of sin and righteousness, applying them personally.

"Heal their land" implies that the entire nation suffers as a result of the collective behavior of its citizenry—that the country is afflicted and in need of a cure.

Until America realizes the source of its hope and until its citizens begin to submit themselves to the laws of the Creator, no rescue plan, no matter how brilliantly conceived, is going to bring the nation back to its former greatness.

Is God about to remove His favor as He did with America's ancestors? The nation should be weighing that distinct possibility. Be assured that America hasn't yet begun to see troubles in comparison to what life would be like without the Creator's special blessing.

The good news in all of this is that God's characteristic mercy remains and that when America eventually repents, it will find His forgiveness. WNP