Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. He is one of my personal heroes and would have been 201 years old today. I am thankful that God put this man in our country’s history at just the right time. I am thankful that President Lincoln was a man of determination and compassion. I am grateful that he was more interested in restoring our broken nation than in exacting revenge on the enemies of the Union.

In April 1865, just days before he was assassinated, the president gave a speech from the White House to a crowd that had gathered to celebrate the surrender of General Lee. The crowd had gathered expecting to hear the president talk about vengeance and retribution that they very much wanted to exact on their defeated enemies. But Lincoln would have no part of it. He understood that this would cause vastly more harm than good. Instead, the president spoke of healing and reconciliation to the crowd that night, and it infuriated at least one person there—John Wilkes Booth.

Booth killed President Lincoln  a few days later, in part out of hatred, but also for his own glory. In Booth we see a small, angry, and egotistical little man who sought self-glorification through murder. Booth had deluded himself into thinking that murdering the president would make him a hero to the South, and doubtless there were some who did see him as that.

But whom do we remember this day? Who is a towering giant in our history? Not J.W. Booth, but rather Abraham Lincoln. To be sure, the president was the consummate politician and never let folks get too near him, even those who claimed to know him the best. And Lincoln was a determined warrior, but he was not driven by hatred or bloodthirstiness. He was a determined warrior because he saw the war as regrettably the only way to bring the Union back together again, and it took a terrible toll on the president. Look at the two pictures of President Lincoln below. The  picture on the left was taken in 1862 (I think). The picture on the right was taken in February 1865, just two months before he was killed. Look at the personal cost the war inflicted on the president. This is often what happens when evil confronts compassion.

For you history buffs out there, I would also encourage you to read Jay Winik’s, April 1865: The Month that Saved America. Winik is a wonderful historian who tells a gripping and interesting story of how Lincoln and others on both sides (Grant, Lee, Sherman, et al.) followed Lincoln’s conciliatory example and behaved in ways that saved America from guerrilla warfare after Lee’s surrender. Winik also paints a compelling picture, at least for me, of God’s gracious providence toward this nation of ours. I wonder these days if we are still beneficiaries of God’s gracious providence or whether over the past 40 or so years the enemies of the Cross have changed us in ways that are leading us to God’s judgment and death. Only time will tell.

This Monday we celebrate Presidents’ Day. Sadly many in our country do not even know the two presidents for whom the day is celebrated (do you?). Yet had it not been for Washington and Lincoln, this country surely would not be here today, or at the very least would not have enjoyed the prosperity we enjoy. Take time this weekend and on Monday to honor these two great presidents. Get to know them and their accomplishments so that you will gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the great gift of this country that God has bestowed upon us. We are not perfect. No country is. But we kid ourselves if we think we became the great nation we are without God’s providence and blessings.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Thank you for helping to save this great nation of ours. And thank you, dear God, for placing him, and President Washington, in our midst to do so.