A National Day of Fasting and Prayer this Sunday

This coming Sunday, December 6th will be a national day of prayer and fasting for our beleaguered republic, and for those who are suffering from the loss of jobs and income in this trying time.

As a nation, I believe we have lost our way. As a student of history, I am afraid of the patterns that I see. The America that I grew up in seems to be changing into something I no longer recognize, with our basic freedoms being continually eroded away, replaced by a sense of fear of our own government, a government that was created by we, the people, ourselves.

I am reminded of those who have fought and given their lives to make this nation free; the greatest experiment ever undertaken, to create a free society, where no king or tyrant could dictate or make capricious laws, where people were secure in their God-given rights, secure from the intrusions of despotic government.

I am reminded of a story of just one of these who fought and died that we might be a free people. After surrendering to the Hessians during the battle of Long Island, he was stripped of most of his clothing, then mercilessly bayoneted and left for dead. He lived for about 24 hours in agony, remarking to his friends, “It is hard work to die.” How many others like him have fought and died in agony, giving up their futures that we might be able to enjoy ours in freedom and peace?

I believe that the God of heaven “established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom [he] raised up unto this very purpose.” George Washington himself said that:

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the People of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past [blessings] seem to presage [W. Allen, ed., George Washington: A Collection, p. 461. Indianapolis, Ind., 1988].

I hope you will join me in a day of fasting and prayer this coming Sunday, December 6th, that the “invisible hand” might again move in our behalf as a people.

Dr. Brad : )