I recalled the terrible winter at Valley Forge and General George Washington on his knees in the snow, praying for divine aid. I thought of the words of Lincoln during another time of crisis as he said humbly: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”

George Washington acknowledged God’s direction and stated: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” (Washington’s Farewell Address.)

Lincoln knew that God rules in the affairs of men and nations. He solemnly declared: “God rules this world—It is the duty of nations as well as men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow . . . and to recognize the sublime truth that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”