The US - a Specially Blessed Nation?

Is the United States a nation that has received a special blessing from God? This is the question posed by Layne to the Living Faith session on Sunday, as a part of the "How Would Jesus Vote?" series currently in progress. The consensus answer from the group is "yes and no". If what we mean is "has God blessed the US especially richly, compared with other nations", then the answer has to be a resounding yes! Natural resources, material wealth, geographic position, religious and political freedom, diversity, stability, absence of invasion - the list goes on. On the other hand, if we're asking whether these blessings imply God has a special place for the US - whether in some way, as some Christians seem by their words and actions to believe, the US is now God's "chosen nation" - then the answer must be an equally resounding no! The Bible is clear that the original chosen nation was Israel (see Gen 12:1-3, Exodus 19:6, Malachi 3:12, etc. The Old Testament is a history of Israel's failure to live up to the responsibiliities that went with being blessed (i.e. to be a blessing to all the nations of the world), culminating in the adoption of a "new Israel" - the church - which in turn became God's blessed "nation" (see 1 Peter 2:9, which applies Exodus 19:6 clearly to the church).

So how does this affect the US? We may not be as a nation God's chosen people, but there is still no question that God gives his blessings so that we might bless others. Therefore the US as arguably the most blessed nation in the world, carries a responsibility to the rest of the world that is second to none. The conclusion of our meeting is that a predominant factor in our assessment of foreign policy issues in the upcoming elections is the degree to which our policy reflects this responsibility - using our blessings to be a blessing to others. This should be the litmus test that we as Christians apply to our consideration of the candidates' foreign policy. Thoughts?