May 1, 2025, marks the seventy-fourth National Day of Prayer in the United States. A day earmarked for the recognition of the power of prayer. A day Americans are encouraged to pray for the nation.
In praying for peace in America, we follow the example of Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, who urged God’s people to pray for the peace of Babylon. Jeremiah 29:7 says, “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”
This is an astounding verse given the perverse nature of the Babylonian government. Babylon was a wicked and corrupt heathen government. It was an extremely powerful empire guilty of some of the worst crimes. They pillaged and plundered weaker kingdoms. They abused their position of power and took advantage of the poor (see Dan. 4:27). Babylon split up families and took children away from their parents (Jer. 31:16, 17). The Babylonians publicly executed innocent people (Jer. 52:10, 11)and mutilated the bodies of those who were left, even poking out the eyes of some, such as King Zedekiah (Jer. 52:11). Babylon was filled with pride and was defiant toward the God of heaven (Jer. 50:29; Dan. 5:23). And yet in spite of Babylon’s sins God says to pray for Babylon: “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace” (Jer. 29:7).
If God invited Israel to pray for Babylon, would He not welcome our prayers for America today? In spite of its sullied record, America needs the prayers of God’s people today as much as Babylon needed prayer back then. Did you know that some of America’s presidents have struggled to know how to pray for America because of its sins? How and what, then, are we to pray for?
It’s Complicated
On March 4, 1865, only 41 days before his assassination, President Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address. In his speech he acknowledged that during the American Civil War, though both the North and the South prayed to the same God and read from the same Bible, they did not always see eye to eye. “It may seem strange,” he said, “that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not that we be not judged.”1 Speaking of the Confederates and the Union, he said, “The prayers of both could not be answered—that of neither has been answered fully.”2 He continued later in the speech, “Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.”3
Some of you have read these words carved in stone on the north wall of the Lincoln Memorial. If you’ve read the speech to the end, you know that President Lincoln waded into some pretty deep theological waters at the end of his speech; suggesting that God may require that as much blood be spilt by the bullet and the bayonet as had been spilt by the slave whip. This was no boasting speech! Lincoln seemed to recognize that the prayers of both sides were compromised.
He acknowledged the sins of the nation not only in his second inaugural address, but also in 1861, when He proclaimed a National Day of Prayer shortly after the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the war.
In proclaiming August 12, 1861, a National Day of Prayer, Lincoln wrote, “Whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimesas a nation and as individuals to humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy—to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most justly deserved.”4
Meanwhile, Ellen White was not very happy about this National Day of Prayer. Not because it was wrong for Congress to request a day of prayer, nor because she thought the president was wrong to proclaim a National Day of Prayer. Rather, she expressed disapproval of the hypocrisy of so many congressmen and generals in the North who had supported slavery and were, even at that time, returning slaves to their masters.
This is no time for empty, hollow prayers. This is no time for selfish prayers. This is time for prayers that will result in justice and mercy, and love in action.
She wrote in 1862:
“I saw that these national fasts were an insult to Jehovah. He accepts of no such fasts. The recording angel writes in regard to them: ‘Ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness.’ I was shown how our leading men have treated the poor slaves who have come to them for protection. Angels have recorded it. Instead of breaking their yoke and letting the oppressed go free, these men have made the yoke more galling for them than when in the service of their tyrannical masters.”5
This is a pretty shocking statement—that the Northerners were treating the slaves worse than the Southern slave owners! She describes their cruelty as such: “Great men, professing to have human hearts, have seen the slaves almost naked and starving, and have abused them, and sent them back to their cruel masters and hopeless bondage, to suffer inhuman cruelty for daring to seek their liberty. Some of this wretched class they thrust into unwholesome dungeons, to live or die, they cared not which. They have deprived them of the liberty and free air which heaven has never denied them, and then left them to suffer for food and clothing. In view of all this, a national fast is proclaimed! Oh, what an insult to Jehovah!”6
She then quotes from Isaiah 58:6, highlighting the kind of prayers that we need today. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
Then she adds, “When our nation observes the fast which God has chosen, then will He accept their prayers as far as the war is concerned; but now they enter not into His ear. He turns from them, they are disgusting to Him.”7
How to Pray
Today we want to utter prayers that God can accept. In the 1860s God was not waiting for America to make a prayer proclamation—He was waiting for America to make an emancipation proclamation (which happened on January 1, 1863).
You see, God hears our cry when we hear the cry of others. He answers our prayers when we answer the prayers of others. God will treat us the way that we treat others. He will show mercy to us when we show mercy to others.
This is not my theology. This is what Jesus Himself taught in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:7).
On April 30, 2024, I had the privilege of attending the North American Division’s eighteenth Religious Liberty Dinner in Washington, D.C., where Senator Susan Collins shared some thoughts on religious liberty and the work of Seventh-day Adventists. I never thought I would learn a new Spirit of Prophecy quote from a United States senator. But I did! Senator Collins shared an Ellen White quote that I had not remembered. She quoted from Christian Service: “Every act, every deed of justice and mercy and benevolence, makes music in heaven.”8
You see, God hears our cry when we hear the cry of others. He answers our prayers when we answer the prayers of others. God will treat us the way that we treat others. He will show mercy to us when we show mercy to others.
I don’t know who shared that quote with Senator Collins or how she found it, but if she learned only one quote from Ellen White, I am happy for this to be the one, because today the world is looking for justice, mercy, and benevolence (love in action). This is no time for empty, hollow prayers. This is no time for selfish prayers. This is time for prayers that will result in justice and mercy, and love in action.
What kind of prayers for America does God need today? The same kind of prayers that were needed in ancient Israel:
“Is this not the fast [or the prayer] that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’ ” (Isa. 58:6-9).
This is God’s desire for His church, for this country, and for His children around the world.
This is our prayer! This is our cry!
Lord, we thank You for raising up this great country, the United States of America. You have been very merciful and very kind! You have blessed this country, far beyond what we deserve. Help Seventh-day Adventists in America to be discerning people who will defend the truth, not compromising a single inch. But also, help us to have hearts overflowing with love more than ever before! May You protect this country and give us peace to the extent that Your mission may be accomplished through Your people in proclaiming and demonstrating Your character of love to the world. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
1 Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm, accessed Feb. 27, 2025.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Proclamation 85—Proclaiming a Day of National Humiliation, Prayer, and Fasting, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ proclamation-85-proclaiming-day-national-humiliation-prayer-and -fasting, accessed Mar. 7, 2025. (Emphasis supplied.)
5 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 1, p. 257. (Emphasis supplied.)
6 Ibid. (Emphasis supplied.)
7 Ibid., p. 258.
8 Ellen G. White, Christian Service (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1925), p. 268.