We Gather Together

Dear Trekker,

Music has always been a delightful part of my life. By God’s grace, I know scores of hymns and love them all. As I write, literally right now, the soft refrain of “We Gather Together” to ask the Lord’s blessing is a back drop for my thoughts today. I sang it as a little boy years ago.

This hymn has been the embodiment of Thanksgiving for our nation since our founding. Of Dutch origin, it was written in 1597. Although it did not appear in any hymnal till 1626, most scholars believe the Pilgrims, in exile in Holland from England and before departure to America, knew the hymn. It actually was a secular ballad to celebrate a Dutch victory over Spain. The words express the gamut of human emotion:

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known; The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing: Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining, ordaining, maintaining his Kingdom divine; so from the beginning the fight we were winning; thou, Lord, was at our side, all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant, and pray that thou still our defender wilt be. Let thy congregation escape tribulation; Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

As I depart for the USA from Germany in less than 24 hours for a Thanksgiving family reunion in the Smokies, my mind is a whirl of thoughts about home, family, hearth and nation. Whatever we all do this Thanksgiving, I hope and pray we, as a nation, return to God. The Psalmist says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”, (Ps 33:12) meaning the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was not a coalition of Gods that brought the Pilgrim fathers to this continent. Who was (and is) the God of our fathers? Our God is Yahweh, redeemer of the lost and King of all nations. But, tragically, we are far from “one nation under (this) God”!

So, as we gather together this Thanksgiving, God yet desires His will to be known. The forces of evil have been oppressing since the dawn of time. Without turning to God, there is nothing ahead for us but a sea of distress. Unless we turn and give and sing praise to Him, the enjoyment of His blessing may pass over us, even though He forgets not His own.

The hymn suggests that God is our guide, our strength, our fortress. He ordains and brings about His kingdom on earth and in heaven. As we recognize these truths, we can begin and win the battle for our nation and people, knowing the Lord is at our side.

We must turn to God and lift Him up. As we do so, He will draw all men, families, and communities to Himself, and we will acknowledge Him as the leader of us all, triumphant in victory. But He alone is our defender; “Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Ps. 20:7) We will only escape coming tribulation if we trust in the name of our Lord. Even then, only the Lord knows what He has prepared for us. “O Lord, make us free!” Yes, freedom is our heritage and our highest goal as a nation. But freedom was never free, not for us, O Lord, nor for thee; it was purchased by your blood on Calvary! How much more blood must we shed today to ensure our nation remains free? I don’t know that answer. But if we shirk our duty to remain free, or to help smaller and weaker nations, we too will become, over time, a subject people ruled by outside forces stronger than ourselves. This is the history of man. We make history, or we suffer history.

Yes, to be sure, “the earth is the Lord’s and every thing in it.” (Ps 24:1) Yet “He has given the earth to man.” (Ps 115:16) We will rule His creation well only if we seek divine guidance, in this as in every age. If we are not strong in the name of our God, we will not be strong at all, in time!

Trekker, you may say, I am somewhat pessimistic about the future of our country! Absolutely; we have no future, similar to our past, apart from turning to God! I learned many years ago in a History of Civilization class on the knoll of Wheaton College to be a ‘pessimist/optimist’ about life. Apart from God, man always destroys himself. That is the nature of life in a fallen world. There is no hope for man, sinner in thought, word and deed. But turning back to the God who made and redeemed us, hope springs eternal. “All things are possible with God.” (Matt 19:26) Trekkers, this phrase is the state motto of Ohio. Maybe we should adopt it for the nation.

In God, in Christ, I am the eternal optimist. What He says, He does! “I am going to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come back and get you, to take you where I am” is the way the Apostle John puts it. My ultimate hope, today and always, is in the Lord. He is a man of His word!

There is hope for us in today’s quagmire in Iraq, in our profligate nation, in our wayward, storm tossed families. We simply need to turn back to God! May I suggest a prayer for us as men, citizens of our nation, leaders of our families, soldiers of God and country? I hope you will join me in this prayer this Thanksgiving: “Lord, God of the heavens and earth and Father of all nations, I bow before you today, confessing my sin and the sin of my family and nation. I pray you will resurrect and revive us by the power of your incarnate Word, Jesus, and the all–sufficient empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Bring renewal and revival to our land. In the name of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit, I ask this. Amen!”

Humbled this Thanksgiving, your trekker friend,

Jim Meredith