A Prayer for America

After watching the fury and confusion of a night battle one man wrote these lines:

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

The man was Francis Scott Key, who was near Fort McHenry during the British bombardment in 1814. The words quoted are from “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which Key wrote as a hymn of thanksgiving to God for sparing them and as a prayer that Americans would always “praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.” This hymn, which became our national anthem, was written during a time of national revival, known as the Second Great Awakening. It started in the late 1700s and continued through about the first three decades of the 1800s.

America has seen many large revivals of the work of God in the past; not the man-made extravaganzas common in our day, but large-scale, genuine turning to Christ under a compulsion that can be explained only as the work of the Holy Spirit. This is not to complain in a doleful way about the current state of religious affairs, but to urge Americans from Scripture and our own history to return to God. We truly are a “heav’n-rescued land.” And this is in answer to the prayers of His people all the way back to early colonial times.

Many of those who emigrated here to carve out a life in this country hoped and prayed that this land would be true to God and be blessed by Him. The great New England preacher Cotton Mather wrote a two-volume magnum opus called The Great Works of Christ in America (Magnalia Christi Americana; or, the History of New-England). It opens with these words of introduction by John Higginson, a contemporary of Mather:

It hath been deservedly esteemed one of the great and wonderful works of God in this last age, that the Lord stirred up the spirits of so many thousands of his servants, to leave the pleasant land of England, the land of their nativity, and to transport themselves, and families, over the ocean sea, into a desert land in America, at the distance of a thousand leagues from their own country; and this, merely on the account of pure and undefiled Religion, not knowing how they should have their daily bread, but trusting God for that, in the way of seeking first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof: And that the Lord was pleased to grant such a gracious presence of his with them, and such a blessing upon their undertakings, that within a few years a wilderness was subdued before them, and so many Colonies planted, Towns erected, and Churches settled, wherein the true and living God in Christ Jesus, is worshipped and served, in a place where, time out of mind, had been nothing before but Heathenism, Idolatry, and Devil-worship; and that the Lord has added so many of the blessings of Heaven and earth for the comfortable subsistence of his people in these ends of the earth. Surely of this work, and of this time, it shall be said, what hath God wrought? And, this is the Lord’s doings, it is marvelous in our eyes! Even so (O Lord) didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name! Now, one generation passeth away, and another cometh…. There is also a third generation, who are grown up, and begin to stand thick upon the stage of action, at this day, and these were all born in the country, and may call New-England their native land. Now, in respect of what the Lord hath done for these generations, succeeding one another, we have aboundant cause of Thanksgiving to the Lord our God, who hath so increased and blessed this people, that from a day of small things, he has brought us to be, what we now are. We may set up an Ebenezer, and say, “Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.” Yet in respect of our present state, we have need earnestly to pray, as we are directed, “let thy work farther appear unto thy servants, and let thy beauty be upon us, and thy glory upon our children; establish thou the works of these our hands; yea, the works of our hands, establish thou them” (p. 13).

God has answered such prayers countless times, and will do so again if His people, who are called by His name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. May multitudes turn to Christ and be freed from the tyranny of sin and self-will. May God continue to have mercy on America and preserve us a nation that will seek Him and reflect His glory.

Some recommended books on the history of Christianity in America:

Mark Sidwell, ed. Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from American Church History. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1991. Good historical vignettes.

Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch, George M. Marsden, David F. Wells, John D. Woodbridge, eds. Eerdmans’ Handbook to Christianity in America. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983. Very informative. Includes pictures, charts and maps.

Thomas J. Nettles. By His Grace and for His Glory. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986. “A Historical, Theological, and Practical Study of the Doctrines of Grace in Baptist Life.”

Cotton Mather. The Great Works of Christ in America. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1979.

A Prayer for America