Does Our Freedom Bring Us to Repentance?

The Psalmist had a few thoughts about themselves as a people, as he reflected on the history of the nation. Psalms 106:6 6Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. This was a fair assessment for Israel as a nation to look back throughout it's history to see where it had been, and what it had done. If you read the entire Psalm you begin to sense that repentance was fueling the Psalmist as he wrote.  Can't help but wonder on this 4th of July, as we put out the flags and watch the fireworks in celebration of the freedom this country stands for, is there even a hint of repentance? Repentance for what you might ask?  Repentance for a nation who might have misused it's freedom of liberty to wander away from the very God who gave it the mantle of freedom as reflected in the sloan, by the people and for the people?  All authority is God's authority, and He sets governments up, and He tears them down.  God allows the evil governments to co-exist until the great harvest comes at the end of time.  Jesus explained this in the parable of the wheat and tares, and even though His parable was about the righteous having to deal with the unrighteous in disguise, it still has a parallel to why God allows evil in the world. Every government and people group will be judged as a nation as to how they have used the authority God gave them to rule their people. Many of us believe the parable in Matthew 25 is a picture of the judgment of nations who have refused to bless Israel as Genesis 12:3 warns. However, as a nation, on this 4th of July holiday, are there deeds of the past, or present that we need to repent from? I can think of many a few: Prayer taken out of schools Abortion Hollywood and the entertainment business Homosexual agenda for same sex marriage   As I look at this list, it is based upon what God's Word says about these issues. Culture has worked hard to unravel the Bible's standards on morality, and today these moral issues are considered to be freedoms. I am quite sure we can make the list much longer, but in a small way it reminds me how far we have strayed from the meaning of the word freedom. God is no longer in any equation of our cultural life, and we lose ground every year to the anti-Christian crowd who wants to take all Biblical standards and replace them with standards of what culture wants. The short sightedness of this kind of freedom will only bring more heartache to a culture gone astray from the Creator and His Word. Re-read Psalm 106 and see the pain Israel brought upon itself because they wanted to find their own standard of freedom, away from God's Word.   May God have mercy upon us as a nation, because I believe we have misused the freedom of liberty God gave to us as a people, and we have gone astray from Him.  Keeping it honest and truthful on this 4th of July holiday.