Independence and Dependence Day
Independence Day is the day that, in a sense, the United States was born. The 4th of July commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, declaring to all the world the fact of, and the reasons for, the colonies' struggle for independence from England. Today in 2020 we celebrate with the awareness that not all is right in our land. We are a nation more divided than we have been since our Civil War of about 150 years ago.
Yet this is a time when we have reason for confidence! Why? Not only because of what we are independent of, but more importantly what we are dependent on.
We fought to free ourselves from a government in England that did not have our people's interests at heart. But also--so many of the original records show--many of us were declaring, not only our independence, but our dependence, not on a king but on the King of kings, not on a royal lord but on the Lord of lords.
In both the early Catholic settlements in Florida and the Protestant settlements in New England, our forebears looked to such biblical passages as Deuteronomy 8:1-3, 7-18. It's one in which Moses is speaking to the assembled people of God. They had been slaves in Egypt for two generations, but had been set free by the outstretched arm of God. Then they had had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. But at the time of this passage, most of their hardships were over. They were finally about to enter the land that the Lord had promised their fathers. They could see it across the river, and it was lush and green.
But Moses had reason to fear for the people. It wasn't about an external threat, but about their own hearts. He stood up before them, and gave them a warning--a warning that mankind easily forgets:
All the commandment which I command you this day you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of
fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of
vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
Take heed lest you forget the LORD your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day; lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built excellent houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there is no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth." You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he might confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.
Perhaps a large part of the reason for our nation's current divisions is that you and I have forgotten the Lord our God. We have forgotten the source of our blessings. We have begun to think that "my might and the power of my hand" have gotten me what I have. So we look far too much to fashioning and depending on politics and the government.
I suggest that we have forgotten Moses' message to his nation. We have forgotten the source of our blessings. We have walked away from the only true source of national security there is. Moses said, "Take heed lest you forget the Lord your God."
A great sign of hope is what God promises us in 2 Chronicles 7:14:
"[I]f my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land."
Yet this is a time when we have reason for confidence! Why? Not only because of what we are independent of, but more importantly what we are dependent on.
We fought to free ourselves from a government in England that did not have our people's interests at heart. But also--so many of the original records show--many of us were declaring, not only our independence, but our dependence, not on a king but on the King of kings, not on a royal lord but on the Lord of lords.
In both the early Catholic settlements in Florida and the Protestant settlements in New England, our forebears looked to such biblical passages as Deuteronomy 8:1-3, 7-18. It's one in which Moses is speaking to the assembled people of God. They had been slaves in Egypt for two generations, but had been set free by the outstretched arm of God. Then they had had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. But at the time of this passage, most of their hardships were over. They were finally about to enter the land that the Lord had promised their fathers. They could see it across the river, and it was lush and green.
But Moses had reason to fear for the people. It wasn't about an external threat, but about their own hearts. He stood up before them, and gave them a warning--a warning that mankind easily forgets:
All the commandment which I command you this day you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of
fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of
vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
Take heed lest you forget the LORD your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day; lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built excellent houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there is no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth." You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he might confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.
Perhaps a large part of the reason for our nation's current divisions is that you and I have forgotten the Lord our God. We have forgotten the source of our blessings. We have begun to think that "my might and the power of my hand" have gotten me what I have. So we look far too much to fashioning and depending on politics and the government.
I suggest that we have forgotten Moses' message to his nation. We have forgotten the source of our blessings. We have walked away from the only true source of national security there is. Moses said, "Take heed lest you forget the Lord your God."
A great sign of hope is what God promises us in 2 Chronicles 7:14:
"[I]f my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land."
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