“Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” – Numbers 14:9
On the night of July 2, 1776, as the delegates were casting their first votes, word reached Philadelphia that a hundred British warships and troop transports had been sighted off New York.
The British Empire was striking back. The colonists had driven British forces from Boston in March, but now a vast armada, some 400 ships, packed with regiments of crack British redcoats and highly trained Hessian mercenaries--was arriving from the motherland to crush the upstart rebellion. By August there were more British soldiers in New York (32,000) than there were people (30,000) in Philadelphia, the largest Colonial city, a couple of days' march away. Between them stood George Washington's Army of some 7,000 men, mostly untested, ill-equipped farmers.
By affixing their signatures to the Declaration of Independence, the Founders were acutely aware that they were committing treason, the penalty for which was death. “We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we will hang separately,” darkly joked Benjamin Franklin.
No one doubted the gravity of his actions. As he signed the document, Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, who suffered from palsy, exclaimed, “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.”
The Lord asks us to trust in Him and not to be afraid. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that when we put our trust in Christ, we do not have to be afraid of anything.
“Jesus came treading the waves, and so he puts all the swelling tumults of life under his feet. Christians – why afraid?” – Augustine
God’s Word: “say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution, he will come to save you.’” – Isaiah 35:4
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