If I had been your history teacher, King David's retreat would have reminded you of a story in American history, a sad story that, like King David's, eventually, after much suffering and pain, had a good ending.
This story from American history is about George Washington. And it is not a fairy tale. It is real life, at its best and worst.
(When you think about it, the Bible's message of God's enduring love and mercy is the only true fairy tale there is -- why? because we can all live happily ever after!)
For over 200 years historians and scholars have picked over George Washington's whole life. They try to explain why he was so loved -- why his memory has been so cherished by Americans and people all over the world -- why his men stood and fought with him against impossible odds -- how he could give his men the vision to see his dream -- how he could last through all the opposition he faced -- what actually made the man who he was. (And how he rode on his distinctive white horse in that colorful uniform in the middle of battle and was never shot -- bullet holes in his hat, his sleeves, his saddle, but he was never even injured!)
Secular humanists have a three-pronged attack aimed at (1) religious faith,(2) the Constitution, and (3) the lives of our Founding Fathers.
They have put maximum effort into "downsizing" our Founding Fathers, especially George Washington, but as long as people truly study the history of this country, reading original sources and searching out for themselves the truth of our heritage, George Washington just keeps growing bigger!
Their failure to understand the person and significance of George Washington is because they try to reject the spiritual foundation of his life. They would even reject that sentence because they consider spiritual issues to be trivial anyway!
Washington's faith, like many of us today, penetrates every area of his life. It was his worldview! Everything in his life was seen and interpreted through his eyes of faith. It was not a slice of the pie. It was the whole pie!
He believed that God, in His sovereignty, had destined the separation of the colonies from Britain, and the formation of the new country. So he could never give up, no matter what challenges faced him.
When a historian tries to remove Washington's faith in God's sovereignty and his reliance on the work of Jesus Christ in the affairs of men -- they are left with a great mystery. They cannot explain the man.
George Washington can't be understood except by understanding his great faith in God and his confidence that God had brought the American colonies to that place in history so that His kingdom could be advanced, and that it is all for God's honor and glory.
Washington's life cannot be understood in any other way.
And neither can King David's. It is easy for us to interpret King David's life because we have his own writings, and the archives of Hebrew history to rely on.
We have detailed records of his faith in God. Even while retreating, King David could say confidently:
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.(Psalm 63)
Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
The same feeling is echoed in so many of the Psalms.
King David's ordeal happened around 1000 BC. When we fast forward about 2700 years -- specifically 1776, in the fall, we come to George Washington, also retreating in his own land, in the most critical year of this country's history.
Just as we have much information on King David's faith, much from his own hand, we also have quite a bit from George Washington to help us understand how his worldview directed his life. Things he himself said, not what later students of history wrote about him.
I know this is going to be long.
I thought about shortening it, and, actually, I did, or started to.
But then I realized that so much of the problems facing our nation today are the result of neglecting, ignoring, "shortening" (reducing) the teaching of our nation's founding.
If you are not deeply emotional when you read about our nation's beginning, it's because you were never taught it as it really happened.
I must sound arrogant. I am certainly angry. Our population today has been short-changed. They have been cheated. Cheated of heroes, of greatness, of moral clarity. Of the possibility of authentic courage and selfless motives.
I remember teachers warning us in school about not making judgments because there were so many "gray areas." As I have grown older I see that that was all wrong. There are not many gray areas at all. Most of life is profoundly simple -- black or white. Good or evil. Right or wrong. Choices we make every day.
It's not the knowing of what is right that is hard; it is the doing of right that is hard. They didn't talk about that much in school when I was growing up. And I think it is much the same way today --
We don't care about heroes much these days. Instead we concentrate on celebrities.
We don't care much about character. Instead we promote personality. Cynical comments always get a laugh. Honest appraisals are mostly ignored.
George Washington would probably never win a personality contest. He had no nickname -- no "Ike," or "JFK," or "Silent Cal." Everyone called him General Washington, or President Washington, or Mr. Washington.
He rarely smiled, we are told. He rarely showed any emotion. On the few occasions we know of when he displayed anger, he quickly asked forgiveness and made his enemies his friends.
Think of the time line:
May, 1776. The Continental Congress authorizes each of the 13 colonies to form local governments.
June 7, 1776. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, presents a formal resolution calling for America to declare its independence from Britain. A committee, led by Thomas Jefferson, is appointed to prepare a draft of the document.
June-July, 1776. The massive British war fleet arrives in New York Harbor. 30 battleships, 1200 cannon, 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 sailors, and 300 supply ships,
all under the command of General William Howe and his brother Admiral Lord Richard Howe.
The Declaration of Independence is accepted by Congress on July 4 and signed on August 2, when most of the 55 members of Congress placed their names on the parchment copy.
NOTE: A few weeks ago I witnessed a US Congressman being interviewed by journalists.
He trivialized our Declaration of Independence, saying it wasn't really that important. I wonder -- has he ever read it? That document changed world history. And the penalty for signing it was, because it was tyranny against the King, harsh to say the least.
The crime of treason was punished by dragging the accused by a rope to the gallows.
Then hanging him until almost dead, then taking a sword and ripping his intestines out, burning them in front of him (the executioners were encouraged to move quickly so they could accomplish all this before the victim died), then chopping off his head, and then "quartering him," sending the parts of the body throughout the land.
When John Hancock placed his large signature on the Declaration of Independence, he had counted the cost! as had all the others.
Throughout the first years of the war, the British made generous offers of amnesty to all Americans who would lay down their arms (surrender) and also denounce the Declaration of Independence. These offers were distributed throughout the colonies.
They must have been very tempting, and many Americans did lay down their arms.
August 27-29, 1776. Battle of Long Island. General Howe's 15,000 men severely defeated Washington's 7,000. The colonials retreated to Brooklyn Heights, facing capture and total surrender. They were trapped. Then a miracle happened. Under the cover of rain and a "providential fog" (completely unexpected and unusual for that locale) Washington's remaining troops were ferried across to Manhattan.
During the course of the war, in the years 1776 to 1781, Washington's reports to Congress and to his men cited 67 times that their escape, or their success, was the result of the hand of God. That's about once a month!
We have the record of certain British statesmen and members of Parliament in London, who, when informed of the progress of the War and General Washington's numerous escapes, told George III that it appeared God was on the side of the colonials, not Britain.
Now the colonial army was on the run. In ten weeks Washington has lost Long Island, New York City and Westchester.
To the British it was a glorious adventure, a joyful lark!
Next the colonial rebels lost more ground at the Battle of White Plains.
Another retreat westward. The Americans had held on to a small fort in Manhattan where arms were stored. It fell in October. And the British captured the vital stores of 100 cannon, thousands of muskets and cartridges.
Then the Americans lose Fort Lee in New Jersey to the English General Cornwallis.
Washington had lost 3000 troops in these two battles. General Washington abandoned all of New York and moves his forces further westward toward the Delaware River.
Cornwallis pursues him, calling him "that fox" and using hunting horns to intimidate and ridicule the colonial army.
Nathan Hale was caught and executed without a trial. (The British didn't do the other stuff, though.) His last words, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
In November and December of 1776 Washington is pushing his men west toward the Delaware River, with Cornwallis right behind. The weather is the worst people can remember. Deep snow, piling up in drifts, wind blowing icy fingers into the men's faces.
They have no uniforms, not even adequate clothing. At least 1000 are without shoes.
Some have taken the hides of slaughtered cattle and tried to make shoes for their bloody, swollen feet, but these didn't hold up very long. Few coats, few blankets, very little food. But they still managed to fell some trees as they went along to hinder the progress of the British army racing behind them.
The British army had colorful uniforms, with bright red coats and provisions on their backs -- including blankets, eating utensils, water and extra boots. The infantry British soldier carried at least 125 pounds of supplies on his back!
The poor ragtag army of George Washington had nothing on their backs! Journals of those men tell us that General Washington often had tears in his eyes as he watched the men file past. He knew they had very little to eat and certainly no hope of blankets that night.
The journals also tell us that as they walked through the blinding blizzard, pointing their faces toward the ground to avoid the piercing blasts of snow, they could not see where they were going. They simply followed the bloody footprints ahead of them -- the only thing visible to them.
(Actually, when you think about it, the colonial infantryman with no shoes and little clothing could probably outrun a fully clothed, well-fed, Britisher who was carrying 125 pounds on his back. So I guess sometimes having very little to carry on the retreat can be an advantage!)
On his white horse, Washington often rode at the back of the line of soldiers. When one started to falter he would crack his whip and say "Hurry, men! They are right behind us! Hurry!"
Later one of the Delaware Regiment, who often brought up the rear, said that the thing that kept them going on that cruel march was the fact that Washington was there. And they knew he would not leave them, so they couldn't stop because they couldn't allow their Commander-in-Chief to be captured. So they had to keep moving!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment