War -- God's Tool?

I’m plodding my way through the Psalms in my morning devotion time and today came across Psalm 60:1-3.

In that short passage, David communicates his feelings of displeasure of being rejected by God and the struggles he is having with the “hard things” of life. David was a warrior of warriors. He was a king of one of the greatest nations on earth. He knew victory and defeat.

Here is an excerpt I wrote for myself from my journal as I reflected on David’s experiences in light of my life today:
“David clearly knew and taught that God gives victory & defeat in war. I believe that the same thing holds true in life. We (evangelical Christians) think that just because we walk with God (whatever that may mean) that that will guarantee success (victory) in all areas of our lives. What fallacious thinking. God uses defeat, failure, others’ victories & successes & failures to teach us (the body of Christ) who He is, what He is about and who we are in Him.”

Now, whatever your stance on the issue of war in general, I’d like to consider these questions: “Because the USA was founded on Christian principles, does that guarantee that we will be victorious in war? Always? Is the USA guaranteed prosperity, growth & advancement because we are/were a Christian nation? Or is it possible that God has been using the USA to lay the groundwork in the world for something else of which we are -- at this time -- totally clueless? And with that, is it possible that the USA could be taken over by another nation or nations in the next several years or decades?”

What I mean by these questions is for us to consider that God HAS blessed the USA and that is obvious. However, are we taking the attitude of the favored son and now expecting God to always bless us in every endeavor? What about learning from defeat? Serious defeat? How would we as Americans respond to an army invading our land? How would we view that? How would we view that as Christians? Politically & militarily that would clearly be a defeat, but in the long-term view of things, is it a defeat for God’s Kingdom? In God’s economy, is it failure if it leads to the fulfillment of His grander plan for this planet?

There you have it. More rambling musings from a missionary.....