Every Gain Divine

“Some trust in chariots, but we will remember our God.” (Psalm 20:7)

“All nations shall come and worship before Thee.” (Revelation 15:4)

In this political primary season, as America moves toward selecting its next president, the forgotten words to several hymns seem fitting to recall. Francis Scott Key penned a stirring second verse to our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”: O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand, between their loved homes 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! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust!’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Another classic, Katherine Lee Bates’ “America the Beautiful,” includes these lesser-known lyrics: “America, America, God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law,” and “may God thy gold refine, till all success be nobleness, and every gain Divine.” Whichever candidate becomes our 44th Commander-in-Chief, these old, poignant words remind us where America’s hope resides: in humble, grateful dependence upon the One by whose grace the nation was established and has endured.

Heavenly Father, let this be our prayer: that we view every gain, in our lives, in our nation, and in the world, as Divine; that our motto truly be, ‘In God is our trust!’; thatwe receive with gratitude every good gift from Your hand; and that we seek Your face for the healing and hope, the purity and purpose, the strength and resolve necessary for each of us to play our important role in making history. Amen.

Big Dreams

“These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:15-18, New Living, describing the “Day of Pentecost”)

“I have a dream…that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” (Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963)

What are your dreams, and how big are they? Are you taking time to envision your grandest aspirations for relationships, spiritual life, vocation, physical health, finances, the use of your gifts and talents to bless others? These days remain a ripe time to present our dreams to God, pray over them, and take steps to pursue them. During a summer in Kenya two decades ago, I met a preacher named Calisto Odede whose heart seemed about to burst with the joy of knowing Jesus. Speaking with delight in his eyes, Calisto asked, “How big are your prayers? If God answered all of your prayers right now, what difference would it make?” The question pierced me then, and it pierces me still, as I face the reality that too often I permit the tyranny of the urgent and the pressures of life to stifle those “big” prayers, dreams and visions. In the late 1700s, Christian Englishman William Wilberforce set and doggedly pursued two huge life goals: “the abolition of the slave trade, and the reformation of society.” His big-dream life bore rich fruit. (If you haven’t seen the film Amazing Grace, now on DVD, I highly recommend it.) Dr. King pursued his own grand dream for America, and its impact on our society is unmistakable. Thus inspired, the question for you and I remains: What are our dreams for today, for 2008, for the rest of our lives—and how big are they?

Heavenly Father and Merciful Lord, we give thanks today for the dreamers who have come before us. As we dare to dream big dreams and pray big prayers, we thank You that you will come into the midst of our grandest aspirations with wisdom and guidance; and that You are faithful, O God, to provide us with strength and grace as we pursue Your best and highest callings in our day. Amen.

Wall Street Journal blog contribution

The WSJ's Best of the Web Today column included an item I submitted late yesterday related to ESPN sportswriter Jeff Pearlman and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Look for the "Wannabe Pundits" item near the bottom of the column here.

Desperate

What big challenge(s) do we face this week that will only be overcome by supernatural strength? What great task(s) are we called to this year that can only be completed through a power and grace that transcend human capacity? What fresh start are we still seeking for 2008 that will elude us apart from Divine intervention? What result will we see achieved in our lives that will cause others to scratch their heads and ask, “How in the world was that possible?” (And prompt us to answer, “Only by the work of His hand.”) How hungry are we to feast on the living Word and be filled with timeless wisdom and fresh purpose? How thirsty are we to drink deeply of the Holy Spirit and be sustained as we run the race set before us? How desperate are we for God, and for what only God in our lives can accomplish?

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard [of your faith], do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Paul, the apostle, writing to the church at Colosse, Colossians 1:9-14)

Heavenly Father, I am desperate for you again; needful of a fresh touch of your grace and love; hungry for the nourishment that feasting on Your Word and in your presence can provide; eager to experience the fullness that is my inheritance in You—and then to share that fullness freely, blessed by You to be a blessing to others. Amen.