“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
There are a few miracle stories about George Washington, which I never heard in grade school or high school. History records an incident in 1755, when George Washington and 86 of his men were caught in an ambush. After the battle, Washington was the only officer who was not shot down off his horse. The next day, he found four bullet holes in his jacket, yet not a single bullet permeated through his clothing to touch his body. He seemed to be protected by divine providence.
Fifteen years later, an old Indian chief met Washington just to tell him that he personally shot at him seventeen different times, but without success. He told him that Washington was under special protection of the “Great Spirit.”
By the time the British occupation of America ended in 1783, it sadly came with a cost of over 25,000 lives. A peace agreement was finally signed with the thirteen colonies, creating the new born nation of the United States of America.
Washington was called to start a nation, and it was an irrevocable calling for our nation as well as for Washington. To be called by God doesn’t mean that someone is flawless. No person or countries are perfect. A nation, like a person, still has faults to overcome and growth to attain.
Nations, government institutions and churches are all staffed by flawed human beings, since all have sinned and fall short of God’s standards. With God’s grace, every person and nation is going through a process of growth and transformation.
America has always had a legacy of being a place of refuge and liberty for those fleeing poverty or persecution, and with God’s grace, it will continue to be a refuge. The birth of a nation is like the birth of a human being, it is traumatizing, pain filled, yet at the same time, it is a new beginning with hope for all.
For 250 years, God put courage in the hearts of men and women who bravely stood against the mainstream to defend the freedoms that our nation represents. Some of those people lost their lives in the effort.
To love a country is to be able to speak out against its flaws or errors of judgement, based on God’s truths which are self evident. The voice of the people make a difference in a nation’s progress. God isn’t finished with any of us yet, and He isn’t finished America either.
The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Roman’s 11:29)
Whether it is a nation that is called into being or an individual who is called to stand for something, that calling is irrevocable and lasts forever.
Someone once said, “God doesn’t call the qualified, but He qualifies those He calls.” He shed His grace on this nation as well as on all of us. He qualifies us to follow Him as we are, and we do so with all of our flaws or weaknesses.
His power is made perfect through our weakness, which is what grace is all about.
Lord, thank you for shedding your grace and mercy upon us. We ask that you bless this nation with unity and justice for all. Amen
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL!
