The other day, I was preparing dinner when I mentioned to my daughter, Catelyn, that I didn’t have an idea yet for this month’s newsletter article. She said that she would write it and went to her room. I laughed it off and went back to work. By the time dinner was ready, she came into the kitchen and read to Jenny and me what she had written.
"This year, as most of you know, is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Like with any anniversary, we reflect on the years gone by: where and how it all started, what has happened since, etc. We even try to learn from the experiences of our founding fathers. Something that has always stood out to me from the Revolutionary War is the phrase “An Appeal to Heaven.” It was adopted by George Washington just before the war and placed on a new “revolutionary” flag, a symbol of resilience and resistance. Although our current circumstances are not the same as the people of 1776, an appeal to heaven is and always will be our best defense and our best stand against our trials. This is true for nations and for individuals.
The winds of troubled times will surely come, and whether you remain fast depends on who you anchor your life to. I am reminded of Job and the fact that even after everything that happened to him, he could have easily tried to rebuild his life by relying on himself instead of on God. After all, didn’t God put Job in this new place? Job chose to ask God, “Why?” He chose to seek comfort in God’s wisdom. Later, it says in Jeremiah 29:13-14, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes.” Job appealed to God and found him, and Job was reminded of the greatness and compassion of our God, who rebuilt for Job and made things better than ever imagined.
As we go through life, we will undoubtedly face hard times, and we may put up a good fight, have all the advantages and tools needed to win, or maybe we will be the underdog with no one on our side. However, the battle belongs to the Lord. We see this in the Revolutionary War and in the benefits that we reap because God shifted the tide of events and circumstances. America would not be here without God’s intervention. Let us remember the significant way God orchestrated America’s founding and remember that the same God who answered Job is waiting to be found by us, waiting for our appeal and our plea to Him. So, let’s make an “Appeal to Heaven” asking God for guidance for the next 250 years, and let us build a firm foundation in the Lord for future generations to stand upon."
Of course, she is right. God is our best defense in times of trouble; individuals and nations should seek Him – even as we trust Him and remember His providence. I also like Catelyn’s choice of Revolutionary slogans. Long ago, I read about the many flags and banners of the colonial and revolutionary period and was intrigued by Washington’s flag and the bold words emblazoned on it. Sadly, there are some today who disdain this flag, its message, and any who believe in it. Their myopic view of history and their zeal to label legitimate dissent as insurrection lead them to blindly scorn what is actually a beautiful, profound, and widely accepted idea (albeit a broad one) – that God is ultimate. That idea is true, as my daughter said, for individuals and for nations.
“An appeal to heaven” comes from Two Treatises of Government (1689), by John Locke, an English political philosopher familiar to the well-educated founding fathers and whose ideas pervade the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. In the treatises, written in a different political climate and some 85 years before the American Revolution, Locke lays out the ideas of natural rights, the social contract, and the consent of the governed. Locke says of the rights-deprived group or individual who has “no appeal on earth” that “they have a liberty to appeal to heaven.” Elsewhere, Locke writes, “. . . they may appeal, as Jephtha did, to Heaven . . .” (see Judges 11). All of this is, indeed, in the context of the social contract having been repeatedly broken and of the need for it to be restored, but Locke makes it clear that he is not talking about whimsical anarchy. His point is that people do have “a law antecedent and paramount to [the] laws of men.”
The meanings of most words, phrases, and ideas change over time. While “an appeal to heaven” originally propelled political theory and fostered the spirit of the Declaration and its founders, the colonial patriots and the Continental Army drew encouragement and fighting strength from its reference to ultimate and divine authority and power. For many Christians today, the moral, legal, and political connotations of appeal have been replaced by a spiritual connotation – prayer. In that sense, it is not our right, but rather our privilege to appeal to our Father in heaven, not only in times of crisis or turbulence, but also when we thirst for wisdom, forgiveness, healing, or encouragement. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. (Psalm 91:15 NLT)
