We are very blessed to live in this country and enjoy so many rich blessings. Our forefathers fashioned for us an incredible experiment in human liberty and self-governance. The founding documents they forged provided the superstructure for our nation that continues to this day.
Our founders were not clueless, however. They knew that, although this new nation would be different and better than all that existed at that time, we would also encounter difficult challenges, conflicts, and trials. Indeed we have and we are.
It doesn’t take much effort to discover the multitude of problems America faces today. Near the top of that list is inflation that burdens all Americans, but our poorest the most. In addition, a crime spike, lawlessness, a homeless crisis combined with the immigration tsunami and racial unrest nearly overwhelm our country domestically.
Internationally, we watch as Russia brutalizes the Ukrainians and threatens to destroy civilization with nuclear weapons. Iran promises to eliminate both Israel and the US while Afghan women and Christians suffocate under bitter oppression and persecution.
We could fill this article with the surplus of challenges our nation and its leaders face. It’s easy to become not just discouraged, but depressed by our present condition and give up hope. It’s also tempting to believe that these Goliaths are too great and we are too small to make a difference.
We must not fall for this lie of the devil. There is something that every believer can and must do that is more powerful than even the President of these United States. We must pray. Prayer gives us direct access to the most powerful Being in the universe Who can easily intervene at any time in any way. And He listens to the prayers of His people.
In a book I’ve referenced before, Shenandoah Iron, author Norman H. Scott describes some trials this country faced even prior to its founding. The Seven Years War involved most every European country and could easily be considered a world war for it spilled over into the colonies in what we know today as the French and Indian War.
This international conflict devastated the Shenandoah Valley as the French used Indians to attack and intimidate valley settlers. Scott quotes Harry Strickler’s book, A Short History of Page County Virginia and says, “It was ten years of bloodshed, massacre, of plunder, violence and burning all along the frontier.” Bounties for scalps prompted Indians, often led by French officers, to commit atrocities here despite the fact that settlers and Indians had coexisted peacefully before the war.
Although the scale was reduced, the killing and terror were just as real for valley residents as it is today for the Ukrainians. How did they endure and overcome? How did the future nation survive such violence to become what we are today? By relying on our great God.
Many valley settlers called on their heavenly Father to protect and to bless their homes and families. They met together for worship and joined their voices in prayer. And as the new nation emerged and grew, its leaders routinely called its people to pray over the coming years.
We have the same access to their hope and stay to address the challenges of our day. Thursday, May 5, is the National Day of Prayer and Christians all over America will be lifting up prayers for our nation and its future. All believers can and should be praying constantly for our leaders in obedience to I Timothy 2, but this is a special opportunity to come together and do this for our own sakes as well as for those of our children during these turbulent times.
All are invited to Antioch Church at 23502 Senedo Road, Woodstock, on May 5 at 7pm to seek God’s mercy, grace, and favor for our country, our leaders, our citizens, and our world. God still answers prayers!
Praying, George