Presidents Day Advice from Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln – A Man of Wise Words

 

We Remember Abe on Presidents Day

As we in the USA celebrate Presidents Day, let’s heed the words of one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln.

“It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, and 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 Holy Scripture, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch (sic) as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisement 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? 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 has 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 sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” [March 30, 1863]

Are Lincoln’s Words for Today? 

As we look at our country today, we can see that we have been blessed in many ways.  Just as Lincoln observed, we have had many years of relative peace and prosperity, but most Americans do not acknowledge that these blessings have come from God.  Along with Lincoln, we can observe that our nation has forgotten God.  We are self sufficient rather than dependent on God.

Through his own personal suffering after the death of his son Willy, and through the pressures of being President during the terrible time when our nation was divided and fighting within its own borders, Abraham Lincoln’s faith and walk with God deepened.  He became bold enough to publicly proclaim that the people in our country must repent and turn back to God.  He was not afraid to acknowledge publicly that God’s judgement can bring tragedy to a nation.  Can you imagine the reactions of the news media today if a President made these claims?

As we face another election and view the various candidates who want to run for the office of President of the United States, let’s pray that God will raise up another President such as Abraham Lincoln –  one who will call our nation to repentance and to acknowledging that we need to be dependent on God.

Should All Presidents Make This Pronouncement That Lincoln Made?

“I invite the people of the United States to invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit… to guide the counsels of the government with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consolation throughout the length and breadth of our land all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally to lead the whole nation through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will back to the perfect enjoyment of union and internal peace.” [July 15, 1863]

What a difference there would be in our country if all of us called on the Holy Spirit to guide our government and to give our leaders wisdom and to lead us to repentance and submission to God!

Want to learn more about Lincoln? Read these books:

What do you think?  Are Abraham Lincoln’s words still true today?  Comment below.