From Bill Federer Battle of Gettysburg

General James F. Rusling recorded that General Sickles asked Lincoln if he was anxious before the Battle. (And the panic in D.C.)

Lincoln replied:

"No, I was not; some of my Cabinet and many others in Washington were, but I had no fears . . ."

Lincoln continued:

"In the pinch of your campaign up there, when everybody seemed panic-stricken, and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day, and I locked the door, and got down on my knees before Almighty God, and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this was His war, and our cause His cause, but we couldn't stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And I then and there made a solemn vow to Almighty God, that if He would stand by our boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him . . ."

Lincoln added:

"And He did stand by you boys, and I will stand by Him. And after that (I don't know how it was, and I can't explain it), soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into his own hands and that things would go all right at Gettysburg."

And here we are today, through the prayer of one man, President Lincoln, to the everlasting God who changed not. An individual can be free physically, but confined in bondage through their own making. And so can a nation. Like in the words of Lincoln, as we celebrate this Independence Day, of July, 4th 2021, Dear Lord, the crisis we faced as a nation this is Your war, and our cause Your cause.

Remember us for the glory of your namesake, in Jesus name. Amen.