But this command I gave them: "Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.

But they did not obey...

Jeremiah 7:23-24(a), ESV

In recent years, and even in recent days, we have seen what happens when the rule of law is not honored. In our nation, the law has become little more than a tool for the powerful and the wicked to manipulate in ways that serve their needs and desires. As a result of their manipulations, they have been able to avoid being held accountable when they have violated the law, and have been able to persecute and prosecute those whom they find a hinderance to their schemes. It seems to be working out for them, at least at the present time, for they are very, very adept at using the law to their own advantage.

In recent days, they have even been able to abandon the rule of law long enough to convict a former President of "crimes" of their own contrivance. 

The problem, of course, is that when you do not have equal application of the law, or when you misuse it for purposes for which it was never intended, that you no longer have a "rule of law." And as has been pointed out by wiser men than I, when you no longer have a rule of law in a nation, you no longer have a basis for remaining a nation.

This is what the people in Jeremiah's time were to learn. God had made a formal covenant with the nation of Israel that He would be their God and they would be His people. It was an incredible covenant indeed, for it gave the people all sorts of rights and protections that they could not have otherwise enjoyed. They were truly a blessed people. As Moses was to put it when addressing the nation, "What other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today." (Deuteronomy 4:8)

However, as with all contracts, there was a condition to the promise of the people remaining one nation under God: They had to keep the laws! And as we see in Jeremiah's statement, the people did not obey. And eventually, because of their disobedience, the people fell out of the covenant and therefore the protections and privileges associated with that contract. So God no longer recognized them as His people because they had rejected Him as their God.

And an important lesson was learned: When you no longer obey the rule of law, you no longer have a rule of law. And when you no longer have a rule of law, you no longer have a basis for a nation.

I know that a lot of people do not like our former President. I have to admit that I do not like the set of morals by which he used to conduct himself, and I still do not like some of the immature ways in which he interacts with some people. Having said that, it is still no reason to abandon the rule of law and prosecute he and his followers with a perverse and unfair interpretation of that law. It is also no reason to completely abandon the rule of law in order to protect the people in power who oppose him. or even for those who could care less about him and just want to increase their own power by any means available.

So for those who are cheering recent events of the past few years, I have this observation: When you abandon the rule of law, you abandon the contract between government and the people. And when you do that you will eventually not only lose power, but you will lose the nation.

There is a major difference, of course, between what happened in Jeremiah's time and ours. In Jeremiah's time the people abandoned their rightful Authority. In our time, the rightful "authorities" have abandoned the people. In both instances the contract was broken. And in both instances the people no longer had a basis for being a nation anymore.

Why bring all of this up? First, because it is important for us to consider, and to take warning before it is too late. Second these things are happening because we the people, governing authorities included, have not been keeping God's laws. And third (and most important), because we still have time to repent and remain a people who are in a covenant relationship with God. I don't know if the nation of America can be saved or not, but I do know that we can remain a part of God's Kingdom if we will simply hear His voice and obey it. And maybe if we will do that, we might have a chance to restore America to where it can have a basis for continuing to be a nation.

It's something to seriously consider, don't you think?