We Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God

We Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God.  Our national identity, deep-seated patriotism, the American Dream, and all things red, white, and blue are in vogue again this week as we celebrate our country’s birthday. Except for the precise date which didn’t account for the final form of the Declaration of Independence to be rewritten in duplicate for signing, John Adams was correct when he wrote to his wife, Abigail on July 3, 1776, that a new day had dawned:

 

The Second of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this time forward forever more.

 

It is easy to forget now how uncertain the whole messy ordeal of independence was in separating from the world’s only superpower, Britain. Nothing was certain except the resolve of those patriots who envisioned independence and the reluctance of Britain to allow it. The Americans’ faith in God was resolute and their grasp of the political ramifications was vast.

Our country is still quite young at 248 years old. By contrast, Israel’s national identity stretches back to approximately 1050 b.c. when the tribes selected their first king, Saul. When Saul rejected God’s word, he was deposed by the least likely candidate for king—a shepherd boy in Bethlehem, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, David. When David was ascending and Saul was descending, all by God’s decree, Saul nevertheless mobilized his entire political and military might to hunt and kill David and prevent his victory. But Saul’s legacy was disbelief.

It was during his time of running from Saul that David wrote many of his psalms. Yet, David’s words were not his possessions, precisely; the author was God. And since God exists outside of time, God’s word transcends time. Innumerable generals and kings, fathers and mothers, peasants and merchants, shepherds and politicians, including the American forefathers, have repeated David’s words, especially when their own words and wisdom fell short. They appealed to heaven to make sense on earth with phrases such as this: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psa. 20:7).

It was not superiority in military equipment or tactics that brought David to his throne or America to its establishment as one nation under God. It is God, not men, who moves the pieces on his geo-political chess board as he sees fit. If we look to our culture for our identity or trust in our country for our security, then we look too low indeed. “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Dan. 4:17).