By Chris Howse
We have holidays to remember our soldiers, our workers, weed, moonshine, and doughnuts, but we don’t have a day to remember the Almighty in whom, we say, we trust.
This Memorial Day we remember more than a million Americans who have died in uniform. The Revolutionary War alone killed 25,000 Americans—one percent of the entire population, equal to losing three and a half million Americans today. These were farmers, fathers, grandfathers, and even fourteen-year-old boys.
Many died valiantly in battle and others of disease and starvation aboard cramped, vermin-infested British prison ships in New York Harbor. Valley Forge was bitterly cold, but several winters were worse, and many soldiers endured them without even a shirt, shoes, or a blanket.
They survived on “firecakes,” flour mixed with water because local farmers sold their livestock to the British who could pay more. These Patriots went months without being paid and still stayed true to the cause, ultimately defeating the greatest army and navy in the world. We rightly honor them and so many others today.
But there is a Memorial Day we’ve somehow forgotten.
George Washington knew the Revolution’s outcome couldn’t be explained only by an untrained militia and disorganized states. On October 3, 1789, he declared the first Thanksgiving as a day of gratitude to God. He said, as President, that it is:
“Our duty…to acknowledge God” and “unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks…for the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced…in the late war…and for the peaceable manner we have established constitutions of government for our safety and happiness.”
We rightly had a whole day to acknowledge what God did for us. And a study of the Revolutionary War reveals countless ways God helped us during the war.
One remarkable example is the taking of Boston — a city so fortified with British soldiers that a direct assault would be suicide. Secretly, Washington moved cannons onto the high ground of Dorchester Heights under a heaven-sent night — a thick haze hugging the valley below concealed his men from British eyes, while bright moonlight above lit the hills just enough for them to work.
By dawn, fortifications stood that left the British speechless. When General Howe ordered his counterattack, a sudden, ferocious storm erupted out of nowhere and made the assault impossible — and America acquired one of Britain’s most entrenched strongholds without firing a single shot.
“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which (we) have advanced to…an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”
The heritage we’ve inherited — our form of government, prosperity, and liberty — was purchased in blood and sustained by grace. That heritage is a gift. Let’s show God our appreciation by remembering Him more and preserving what He and our fallen soldiers gave us.
