In a few days, as a nation, we will commemorate and celebrate the founding of our free republic on Independence Day, 2025. It is a day of fireworks, cookouts, picnics, parades, and patriotic programs—all designed to help us pause with pride that, even now, we remain the land of the free and the home of the brave. Rudyard Kipling was not an American, but his Recessional strikes a chord in the hearts of freedom-loving people everywhere:
“The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
A humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget.”
We have read and thought deeply on what someone has called the sequence of a nation’s decadence. It goes like this:
“The great civilizations of the world have had an average of about 200 years. They have progressed thusly: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back to bondage.” Where does America fit on the scale of greatness to decadence?
Where does America stand today on this scale from greatness to decline?
Our first president, George Washington, petitioned God for mercy upon the fledgling nation that had become “one nation under God.” He prayed:
“Almighty God, who has given us this good heritage, we humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion—from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with the spirit of wisdom those to whom, in Thy name, we entrust the authority of government, that there may be peace and justice at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.”
Theodore Roosevelt expressed heartfelt concern for his beloved country:
“Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, and sincerity—the virtues that make America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”
Our 16th president offered this solemn warning:
“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
History teaches us about the rise and fall of great civilizations. Among the most powerful was ancient Rome—yet even that mighty empire fell, not to an external enemy, but from internal decay. In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon noted several reasons for Rome’s collapse:
- The rapid increase of divorce, undermining the dignity and sanctity of the home, the foundation of society;
- Higher and higher taxes and public spending on free bread and circuses for the masses;
- A mad craze for pleasure, with sports becoming increasingly brutal;
- The building of massive armaments, even as the real enemy was internal decadence;
- The decay of religion, with faith fading into mere form.
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Do any of these “markers” seem familiar in America on her 249th birthday?
Lincoln, as cited earlier, assessed the moral and spiritual condition of the nation he led. He also offered this wise counsel:
“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”
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As we reflect on these words from past leaders, let us return again to Kipling’s Recessional:
“If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget.”
In conclusion, a Northern soldier once asked President Lincoln, “Is God on our side?” The President wisely replied that the more important question is:
“Are we on God’s side?”
“Yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 144:15)
Have a happy and safe 4th of July!
YOU and GOD 