July 4, 1776 marks the day America declared its independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson wrote the famous declaration which includes these familiar words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And thus began the American Experiment, which produced the freest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world, and made the American Dream attainable to anyone who aspires to achieve it. What courage our Founding Fathers had!
Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which Heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.
If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we are a nation gone under.
Our Pledge of Allegiance holds the key to the American experience: we are “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” So you see, it’s not our independence that makes this country great, but our dependence – our dependence on God and each other.
Though we haven’t completely “gone under” yet, we are certainly beginning to forget that we are one nation under God. Today, just 246 years after our declaration of independence, and our early founders’ “proper sense of their dependence on God,” our post-Christian culture makes it ever more difficult and uncomfortable to proclaim allegiance to the one, true God, and live in accordance with His Word. Our nation is wounded and needs the healing only God can provide. Lloyd John Ogilvie’s devotional, God’s Best for My Life, has an excellent message for Dependence Day, based on 2 Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Patriotism has not gone out of style. For a Christian it has very special implications. Independence Day is really dependence day for us. It is a day to reaffirm God’s vision for America, the dream He gave to our founding forefathers, and the unique place that our nation has in His strategy for history. The Fourth of July is more than a day for picnics, firecrackers, and parades. It is a day for prayer for our nation, our leaders, and God’s blessing on us.
Our Scripture today holds out a grand promise with a great “if”. It is a pledge by God to His people in our land. If we humble ourselves, turn from the things which contradict His vision for our nation, and earnestly pray, He will forgive and heal our ills. The words “one nation under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance are a commitment to work for His righteousness and justice in every part of society.
But just as what distorts our nation is caused by evil people, so too the solution must come through good people in leadership in all levels of government. So for each of us, this is a day of commitment to correct anything in our personal behavior which denigrates the American dream, and to pray for our President, our Congress, and our local leaders that they would be courageous in social righteousness. There is a vital interrelationship between our prayers and their courage. The hope of America is not in her military might or natural resources, but in God’s people, you and me, as our prayers become a channel through which He can bless our land. Goodness and greatness are inseparable. America’s supernatural resource for greatness is humble prayer on “Dependence Day.”1
In President Ronal Reagan’s farewell address, he defined his vision of “the shining city upon a hill.”
In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.
It’s a wonderful image, isn’t it? As Matthew 5:14-16 teaches us, we are the light of the world, and a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. It is a beacon for all to see, beckoning us to a better way of life.
The world is watching. How are we representing? Are we living as Ambassadors of God’s grace? Or are we “going along” with a culture in moral decline to “get along”?
Do not confirm to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.
This Dependence Day, we need to get back to our roots. One nation under God, firmly planted in the Word of God, doing the will of God. We need to return to our nation’s motto, printed on all of our currency: In God We Trust!
It is this trust in God that ultimately makes us free. Freedom is rare and it’s special. It’s also fragile and needs protection. We must be diligent in protecting it.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
So on this Dependence Day, let us humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. Then God will forgive our sin and heal our land.
May God bless America and shed His grace on thee!
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1Excerpted from: God’s Best for My Life by Lloyd John Ogilvie. Copyright © Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97408. www.harvesthousepublishers.com