We have to admit that our Founding Fathers were brilliant men. They have given us a Constitution that is second to none and capable of lasting as long as the earth stands. One reason for this is that these men understood human nature. Within the Constitution and other American documents these men wisely addressed the nature of people with biblical principles. Thus, it is capable of standing a long, long time.
Through the years, our Presidents have also proven themselves. These men have “risen to the top” in the political world in which they lived. They often also rose to the top of the nation in times of great challenge.
We honor our Presidents on the third Monday of February each year. “Presidents Day” originally began in the 1880’s as a day to honor George Washington’s birthday (February 22). Later, we honored Abraham Lincoln on his birthday (February 12). In 1968 Congress combined the two Presidents’ birthdays into one Federal holiday that came into effect in 1971.
With great appreciation for William J. Federer and his book, "Prayers and Presidents," I have chosen quotes from six Presidents with brief application to biblical principles they endowed in their lives. These men were not “perfect.” Yet, they often had insights and understandings about God and His will that benefit us.
In fact, one of the beautiful qualities of our God is that He works with fallen, broken sinners. This epitomized the life of Jesus as seen in Matthew 9:13(ESV):
Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The principle is true for individuals and nations. While it is true that God loves us as we are, He loves us too much to leave us as we are. That’s true for you, for me, and for the nation. America has made much improvement over the years as a result of the leadership of some of our Presidents, especially those who spoke the word of God to us.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews makes a point about our relationship to our leaders. In the context it applies first of all to our church leaders. These are shepherds for our souls. Some Presidents have felt a keen sense of responsibility towards the spirituality of our nation. It would seem that the principle would apply to our civic as well as spiritual leaders, especially when civic leaders lean on God as they lead us.
Hebrews 13:7-8 (ESV) 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
How we love to be led by good people. That is, people who have the best interest of their followers in mind, not how they can get ahead by abusing their flock. Note the Wise Man’s observation in Proverbs 29:2 ESV):
When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
I. George Washington: A Sagacity of Sincerity
GEORGE WASHINGTON, JUL. 2, 1776, ORDER FROM NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS:
The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them.
The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore to resolve to conquer or die. Our own country’s honor calls upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world.
Let us rely upon the goodness of the cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions.
Obviously, I didn’t know Washington in person. However, he appears to be one of the most devout and sincere people of our founding era. Michael McCartney points out that George Washington’s motto’s were impressed upon Him by the Lord and they were “Deeds, not words”, and “For God and my Country.”
Washington teaches us that while we trust God, we must also put that trust into action. Biblically, faith is an action word. It does what God says as well as internally acknowledge it. There are many biblical examples, but James reminds us:
James 2:18 (ESV) But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
A sincere faith puts the word of God into action. The imperfect George Washington relied on the Lord and acted on his belief in Him. He sagely and sincerely served both his God and his country as a result.
II. John Adams: A Spirit of Sacrifice
Our second President strikes me as a visionary. I feel certain that he had many frustrations standing in the shadows of George Washington, yet he could see what could be if we followed God wholly.
In 1777, Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote his comments regarding John Adams:
He was a stranger to dissimulation, and appeared to be more jealous of his reputation for integrity than for talents or knowledge. He was strictly moral, and at all times respectful to religion. In speaking of the probable issue of the war he said to me in Baltimore in the winter of 1777, "We shall succeed in our struggle, provided we repent of our sins, and forsake them," and then he added, "I will see it out, or go to heaven in its ruins.”
While Adams was a visionary, he also was willing to pay the price of liberty. As a signer of the Declaration of Independence he was willing to give his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor – just like the others. He also expected those for whom he and his generation sacrificed to make full use of their gift.
John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, from Philadelphia, on Saturday evening, April 26, 1777:
Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.
Jesus, of course, exemplifies sacrifice for others. He gave his life, both in living and dying, for all humanity. He shows us how to live, how to die, and what rewards we have because of Him.
John 15:13 (ESV) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
The apostle, Paul makes an interesting point. Not only did Jesus lay down His life for His friends. He also did for His enemies. Romans 5:8 (ESV) reads, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is why He could ask His Father to, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
We are still called to make sacrifices and to BE sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1-2). Those sacrifices imitate Jesus ultimately but can also imitate the spirit of our Founders as they forged a nation out of a wilderness.
III. Thomas Jefferson: Singular Sensitivity
THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1781, NOTES ON STATE OF VIRGINIA, QUERY 18, ENGRAVED ON JEFFERSON MEMORIAL:
God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.
Thomas Jefferson is often accused of being an irreligious person, one of the least men of faith among our Founders. Once again, I cannot know for sure one way or another. What I do know is that Jefferson appears to be sensitive to the reality of God and His justice on this world. Just as the inspired St. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (ESV):
For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Are you aware of the return of Jesus? Are you aware that when He returns He will judge the living and the dead? Are you aware that while people may SEEM to “get away with murder,” there is a day in which we all will be judged and there will be nothing hidden?
It appears that the impending judgment is not something that Jesus is looking forward to doing. He says in Luke 12:49 (ESV), “49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!”
He had much to go through to become our Judge, and He WILL judge. He will judge us as individuals (Matthew 25) and as nations. Thomas Jefferson understood God’s justice. He, like many of his peers, believed that individuals are judged in eternity while nations are judged in time. The Lord blesses righteous nations (Psalm 33:12) and brings low the unrighteous.
This has certainly been proven throughout history. If America is to stand, she must be a righteous nation. To be a righteous nation citizens must become righteous people.
IV. Abraham Lincoln: Strengthen Through Struggle
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, MAR. 4, 1861, 1ST INAUGURAL:
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.
A theme verse for President Lincoln could be, Philippians 4:13 (ESV), 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. If you look at the pictures of Lincoln throughout his presidency you can see the toll the War took on him. I cannot imagine the challenges and pressures he must have faced while in the White House.
Where could he turn? Whom could he trust? There is but One as he stated:
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction t that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day.
We gain strength in the struggle. The chick will die if it receives help while breaking out of its shell. It needs the struggle to gain necessary strength for living life.
So it is with us. As uncomfortable as life can be, as demanding the struggles are, we need them to survive and thrive. The LORD knows this and sends or allows the struggle.
So we turn to Him to handle the struggle. In whatever situation we find ourselves. The LORD provides our necessary strength. Just as He did for Jesus in Gethsemane, He will do for us.
God never promised that life would always be pleasant and fun. He did promise His presence (Matthew 28:18-20; Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5). His presence overshadows our struggles. Abraham Lincoln knew, we can too.
V. John F. Kennedy: Sympathetic Service
The devotion for others above self is seen repeatedly in US and Church Histories. Too often, even in the church, we tend to look at ourselves with a “what’s in it for me” attitude. Yet, when we can look past ourselves we are able to serve, truly serve.
Even Jesus’ closest disciples battled for prominence. They each wanted “greatness” in their lives. Luke 22:24-30 (ESV) reads:
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
Here Jesus explains true greatness is wrapped up in serving OTHERS. This is something that John Kennedy addressed at his inauguration.
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans - ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country...Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.
He also expressed this in the undelivered text of the speech he had plan to deliver the day of his assassination:
We in this country, in this generation, are - by destiny rather than choice - the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That must always be our goal - and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago, “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
Kennedy understood service. He understood service to others. He understood that this service is sacred to the course of liberty and the righteousness of a nation.
This attitude goes all the way back to our beginnings as a nation. The Pilgrims saw themselves as stepping stones. They were willing to lay themselves down to advance the kingdom of God. In 1650, Governor William Bradford stated in Of Plymouth Plantation:
Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.
VI. Ronald Reagan: Supportive Supplication
RONALD REAGAN, FEB. 12, 1982, NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER PROCLAMATION:
Through the storms of Revolution, Civil War, and the great World Wars, as well as during the times of disillusionment and disarray, the nation has turned to God in prayer for deliverance. We thank Him for answering our call, for, surely, He has. As a nation, we have been richly blessed with His love and generosity.
Philippians 4:6 is a powerful verse about prayer. Paul writes for us to bring everything to God by prayer and supplication. Notice the verse:
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Supplication is a seeking, asking, entreating, entreaty to God or to man. It seems obvious that EVERY aspect of our lives needs to be brought to God, not just in times of distress, but especially in times of distress.
I remember the “preacher story” in which an older woman was ill. Her family told her that they had called the preacher so that he could come by and pray for her. The old lady’s response was, “O no! Has it come to that?”
We may see prayer as a last resort. Prayer can become something we do when we have run out of options. Biblically, however, prayer and supplication are daily occurrences.
There have been times America has had her back to the wall and prayed. God in His mercy answered. Presidents have often set the pace for these times of prayer with Presidential Proclamations for days of fasting and prayer.
The devout Presidents have given us good examples and have taught us in exceptional ways. Taking a day to remember these men is honorable. It is a time to reflect on the men God has put in a key leadership role within our nation. It is a time to learn from their successes and failures. It is especially important to see ourselves and our dependence on God.
May we be:
• Sage in Our Sincerity
• Sacrificial in Spirit
• Singular in Our Sensitivity
• Strengthened in Our Struggles
• Sympathetic in Our Service
• Supportive in Our Supplications
