Dear Sir:
You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.
The Reverend went on to request that God’s name be permanently affixed to American currency. Radical request, wouldn’t you agree? That the government remind the populace, via the imprinted message, to trust not in the coin but in the Creator?
Yet, appropriate request, don’t you think? The tendency of the heart is to worship what we make. What better place to place God’s name than on a coin?
The Secretary of the Treasury agreed. He instructed the creation of a God-centered motto. On November 20, 1861, he wrote, “No nation can be strong except in the strength of God.” It took some time. The words endured some tweaking, but in 1864, In God We Trust first appeared on the two-cent coin.
The next time you look at a coin, consider the words and ask yourself this question, “Do we still?” Do we still trust in God? Do we, as a nation, trust God to protect, provide, guide, and direct us?
It’s hard to give an unqualified yes. We seem to trust in everything except God: weapons, Wall Street, education…but God?
Yet, it’s not too late to change. To all nations God gives this promise: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
What a promise. The healing of the land begins with the prayers of the people. Do we desire God’s favor and blessing?
Then let us pray.
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