[When available, audio recordings of these devotions are posted at http://www.redeemerclc.info/audio-devotions]
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Psalm 126:3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
HAPPY 2ND OF JULY!
In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams wrote:
"The Second Day 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."
July 2nd?
Adams' prediction of July 2nd as a great national holiday came as a result of Congress adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. (The Declaration was signed on July 4, 1776.) But Adams was spot on with respect to the celebrations, wasn't he? Although there are not so many bonfires these days, and "solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty" seem to be in short supply as well.
That's where we come in. Since we recognize that it is our Savior-God who has blessed us (U.S.) with the freedoms which are ours in this country, we can make a special point of bringing the Father, Son, and Spirit praise and thanksgiving on the Fourth of July, even as we use the blessings of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly.
Let us not only give thanks to God with hymns of praise, let us diligently use our freedoms as a way to thank the Lord for them. Let us vote and serve jury duty and pay our taxes, etc. as acts of thanksgiving to our God. And since we have freedom of religion and speech, let us give thanks for this by speaking of the Savior to our fellow citizens. In Christ and His saving work we have freedom from sin and Satan, death and hell.
How fitting it is to speak of the Savior and His victory for us in the midst of fireworks and feasting!
