Drowning in Debt Nation

The United States, like many other nations, is facing an ever-growing mountain of national debt. The interest paid on the U.S. national debt is on pace to even exceed military spending in the years ahead (Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2018). According to the Congressional Budget Office, America “will spend more on interest than it spends on Medicaid in 2020; more in 2023 than it spends on national defense; and more in 2025 than it spends on all nondefense discretionary programs combined, from funding for national parks to scientific research, to health care and education, to the court system and infrastructure.” Interest on the national debt is now the fastest growing area of the U.S. national budget as the country continues to spend more than it earns.

When individuals or nations continue to live beyond their means, it is only a matter of time until serious consequences arise. The Bible has long warned that “the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). The covenant that God made with the ancient Israelites stated that turning away from God and rejecting His laws would lead to growing debt that would impact national freedoms and national sovereignty: “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:43–44). As the U.S. and other Israelite-descended nations move away from biblical morality and pile up national debts as a result of greed, it would be wise to remember these ancient warnings. For more insights into the cause and consequences of national debts, read “The Debt Bomb!”