Nowhere else to go

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go” — Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

I am sure I am not the only one who can relate to President Abraham Lincoln’s famous observation about prayer. As much as we believe in “taking action” and “getting involved,” the truth is that there is only so much we can do.

“Without me ye can do nothing,” says Jesus. I truly believe that.

In times like these, we must do all we can — assist those impacted by Hurricane Helene, donate to disaster relief, vote, etc. However, we also must realize just how limited we are.

You and I cannot prevent hurricanes. We cannot end the war in the Middle East. We cannot guarantee the outcome of the upcoming election.

But we can pray.

Abraham Lincoln prayed because he felt overwhelmed. He felt overwhelmed because he knew that he was powerless. Of course, he played his part. He did what he could. He committed his life in service to his God and country. But when the North and South faced each other on a field of battle, what more could he do but surrender the conflict into the hands of Providence?

“In the pinch of your campaign there, when everybody seemed panic-stricken and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went into my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to him mightily for victory at Gettysburg,” he informed Major General Daniel Edgar Sickles. “I told [God] this was his war and our cause, his cause, but that we could not 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. And he did, and I will. And after that, I don’t know how it was and I can’t explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that things would go all right at Gettysburg, and this is why I had no fears about you.”

Between Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton, rising tensions in the Middle East, and a historic presidential election, millions of Americans are, no doubt, feeling “oppressed by the gravity of our affairs.” But will we respond like Lincoln responded? Will we get down on our knees before Almighty God and pray mightily for victory? Or do we think we’re strong enough on our own to solider our way through?

I am not discouraging anyone from taking action. We need people of faith and action to involve themselves at every level of politics. As Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. reportedly wrote and Johhny Cash sang, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.”

Just remember: Almighty God can do more in one moment than all of us combined could ever hope to accomplish. Indeed, His Word assures us that he can do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). When human action fails, when you feel powerless to assist, when the weight of the world is closing in around you, never forget the God who supplants mountains with mustard seeds. And may you, like Lincoln, find that there is nowhere else to get but to Him.