In the summer of 1976, I was looking forward to kindergarten, and our nation was celebrating its bicentennial. I can’t remember much from those days, but in the 50 years since, I know I’ve heard Psalm 33:12 many times: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” Those words were taken up by God-fearing people—like my own Midwestern family and small Baptist church—who were grateful for their country. I’m sure this verse will be cited again this year as we near our nation’s 250th birthday. But what if there’s more in Psalm 33 for us? What Nation? The whole of Psalm 33:12 declares, Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! The second line gives definition to the first. Thus, the blessed nation isn’t any nation that chooses the Lord—it’s a particular nation the Lord has chosen. And which nation is that? It’s the offspring of Abraham, those he redeemed from slavery in Egypt, his covenant people Israel. Moses told them, “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6). In the New Testament, Peter applies this language to Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Pet. 2:9). If any “nation” today can sing Psalm 33 in its fullest sense, it’s the people who are the offspring of Abraham through Christ, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and made his people under the new covenant. To apply Psalm 33:12 to the United States is to exchange Israel for America or equate America with the church. This confusion came easily when most American citizens identified as Christians and most other nations integrated church and state. In 1800, Massachusetts governor Caleb Strong issued A Proclamation for a Day of Public Thanksgiving, calling people to ask God to “promote a spirit of Industry, Sobriety and Frugality, and the belief and practice of true Religion, that [they] may have the blessedness of the Nation whose God is the Lord, and the People whom he has chosen for His own inheritance.” Is this nothing but bad exegesis? Is it wrong to pray this for our country? I’m not asking you to pray less for America. I’m asking you to love your country as dual citizens—strangers and exiles on earth, and citizens of heaven. Psalm 33 is a hymn of praise to God, to be sung by his redeemed people everywhere who have put their trust in him. Believers from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9), this is your song! What Blessing? Another misreading of Psalm 33:12 has to do with the word “blessed.” Many assume this includes things like freedom, prosperity, security, and strength. I’m not asking you to pray less for America. I’m asking you to love your country as dual citizens—strangers and exiles on earth, and citizens of heaven. These goods frequently follow those who fear the Lord, and they were among the tangible blessings promised to Israel so long as she was faithful to him. But “blessed” in Psalm 33 describes the condition of happiness or flourishing, as in Psalm 1 or the Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5). It’d be more accurate to paraphrase Psalm 33:12 as an exclamation that life is good when we live with God. It’s not so much about the stuff that God gives to us; it’s about who he is and what he accomplishes for us. Psalm 33 calls God’s people to praise him (vv. 1–3) because he is the almighty Creator, righteous Ruler, and loving Keeper of his covenant (vv. 4–7). Just as his word brought the entire universe into being, he also “brings the counsel of the nations to nothing” (vv. 8–11). The nations’ plans fizzle while the Lord’s plans last forever—and that includes his saving purpose for his people. Coming to the apex in verse 12, we dare not think we can keep God in our pocket to bring us good luck. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” is the glad acknowledgment that our God is for us. Who can be against us? The psalm then returns to God’s sovereignty over all nations. From his heavenly throne, the Lord looks down on all people, including their kings. Kings trust in their great armies—warriors and war horses—but none can save them (vv. 13–17). The Lord looks down in another way too: His eye is on those who trust him, and he will save them (vv. 18–19). Some might narrow this salvation to merely the forgiveness of sin, but I think it works in the other direction. Because the Lord redeems us by his blood to be his kingdom, we’ll be sustained through the collapsing kingdoms of this world to one day enjoy freedom, prosperity, security, and strength forever, because we’ll be with him. Blessed! What Hope? In December 1862, Abraham Lincoln delivered his annual message to Congress. He concluded by calling them to “save our country,” which he said was “the last best hope of earth.” Nearly every American president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has echoed this line. Psalm 33 ends with glad hearts and a greater hope—in the Lord alone (vv. 20–22). Do we today believe Christ is “the last best hope of earth”? The hope of the world isn’t an increasingly ascendant America—it’s our ultimately victorious Savior, who brings blessing to his chosen people. As America faces military conflicts abroad, growing national debt, birth rates falling below replacement levels, and churches closing by the thousands, it’s easy to be discouraged within this land we love. But believers can take heart, because the hope of the world isn’t an increasingly ascendant America—it’s our ultimately victorious Savior, who brings blessing to his chosen people. I’m glad Strong continued his proclamation by urging the citizens of Massachusetts to pray “that the Peaceful Kingdom of the Redeemer may prevail universally, without rivalship or opposition.” That’s a faithful local expression of a Christ-centered global vision we need this year as we celebrate America’s semiquincentennial. We must pray, tell others about Jesus, and pray some more, awaiting Christ’s kingdom when the Father will “make the nations [his] heritage, and the ends of the earth [his] possession” (Ps. 2:8). American Christians, we need joyful praise and confident prayers lifted to our sovereign God for the advance of the gospel here and everywhere. Let’s sing Psalm 33.