On this date, March 16, exactly two and a half centuries ago in 1776, the Continental Congress called on all patriotic Americans to appeal to the “Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies, to animate our officers and soldiers with invincible fortitude,” should the British government refuse to respond to the appeals of the oppressed colonists.
Now, 250 years later, America is once again in conflict with a foreign enemy, although a very different sort of enemy. The Islamic regime of Iran has been attacking and killing Americans for half a century, besides its own domestic tyranny and global network of terrorism. Finally, the Trump administration is trying to break the power of this evil regime. And Americans cannot do better in this case than follow the example of our Founding generation in appealing to the God of armies to grant our military victory and bring all the troops safely home.
The March 16, 1776, resolution from Congress began, "In times of impending calamity and distress; when the liberties of America are imminently endangered by the secret machinations and open assaults of an insidious and vindictive administration, it becomes the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy colonies, with true penitence of heart, and the most reverent devotion, publicly to acknowledge the over ruling providence of God; to confess and deplore our offences against him; and to supplicate his interposition for averting the threatened danger, and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of freedom, virtue, and posterity." It's a sentiment as true and moving today as it was 250 years ago.
Operation Epic Fury has decimated the Iranian navy, missile stockpiles, and leadership, but at the cost of more than a dozen American service members' lives. While the Trump administration and the Israeli government are both optimistic about the progress of the operation, it is unlikely to end within the next week or two. Therefore, our troops serving in the Middle East — not to mention troops and civilians everywhere that Iranian terror proxies have gone, including the USA — still need prayers. And why not recall what our Founding Fathers did when facing a military conflict?
Congress in March 1776 was still vaguely hopeful that some peaceful solution could be found to the increasingly aggressive clash with Great Britain, or at least, some delegates hoped so, even though the Revolution had begun and an army had been in the field since the previous year. But even months before declaring independence, the Congress recognized, "the warlike preparations of the British Ministry to subvert our invaluable rights and privileges, and to reduce us by fire and sword, by the savages of the wilderness, and our own domestics, to the most abject and ignominious bondage" made that semi-peaceful resolution unlikely.
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Consequently, should the British king and Parliament remain "deaf to the voice of reason and humanity, and inflexibly bent, on desolation and war, they constrain us to repel their hostile invasions by open resistance," Congress added. Then followed the invocation of divine aid:
[T]hat it may please the Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies, to animate our officers and soldiers with invincible fortitude, to guard and protect them in the day of battle, and to crown the continental arms, by sea and land, with victory and success. Earnestly beseeching him to bless our civil rulers, and the representatives of the people, in their several assemblies and conventions; to preserve and strengthen their union, to inspire them with an ardent, disinterested love of their country; to give wisdom and stability to their counsels; and direct them to the most efficacious measures for establishing the rights of America on the most honorable and permanent basis–That he would be graciously pleased to bless all his people in these colonies with health and plenty, and grant that a spirit of incorruptible patriotism, and of pure undefiled religion, may universally prevail; and this continent be speedily restored to the blessings of peace and liberty, and enabled to transmit them inviolate to the latest posterity. And it is recommended to Christians of all denominations, to assemble for public worship, and abstain from servile labor on the said day.
Since messages travelled much more slowly in that time than today, the official day of prayer and fasting was set not for March but for May 17. But while there was a delay between the official resolution's issuance and the day of prayer itself, there was no delay among many patriots in turning to God, nor any doubt that if they took up arms in the cause of justice, the Lord of hosts would give them strength and ultimate victory.
