Last week Tina included in our Sunday church bulletin part of a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave during his presidency. I thought it was excellent so I googled it and found that it was part of a national proclamation the President made that day. In case you didn’t see it, or don’t remember it, here is the message that Tina shared with us last Sunday in our church bulletin (note that underlined text is my addition for emphasis):
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.
We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sin, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
These words were part of a speech that President Lincoln gave on April 30, 1863 in his Proclamation 97—Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer. The prelude to the words you just read above are:
Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and
Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;
And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
President Lincoln then ended the proclamation with these words:
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Note that our country was in the midst of the Civil War at this time, so try and imagine the difficult times that everyone was facing. Yet the national leader, the President, called on our people to repent, ask for forgiveness from God, and change their ways to again understand that our country could only succeed with God as our true leader.
Today, our country and world is also in great turmoil. In addition to the national and global problems that seem to have exploded this past year, just this past week we have major problems seen in our neighbors in Ottawa Canada and across the globe with Russia invading Ukraine.
Matthew 26:52 – Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
These words applied back in 1863 and just the same today, and that is what Lincoln was praying for, and we should be praying for the same today.
Matthew 5:44-48 – But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We still need to remember to treat everyone as we want to be treated, even those who seem to be hateful and ungodly. This is referred to as the common grace which Jesus showed to everyone and we are to do the same. For it is not on us to judge them, everyone will face their own judgment day at their appointed time.
Matthew 10:28 – And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
I believe our country needs another day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. There is no doubt that in our country and the world We have forgotten God. Maybe each of us needs to consider our own behavior this past year and make the changes we need to make in our own lives to be closer to God and to share our belief proudly with others. One thing we can always do to make a difference is to ………
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Let us not let our country and the world forget God!!!