I have been considering the Christian roots of our society. Since at least the 12th century, the terms ‘Higher law’ or ‘common law’ have been used in the West. These terms illustrated the Christian understanding of the relationship between the government and the citizen. They preserved the rights of Christians and the citizens. The English wrote the Magna Carta which states, “The King himself ought not to be under a man but under God and under law, because the law makes the king…for there is no king where will governs and not law.” The Continental Congress of the United States on October 14, 1774 issued its Declaration of Rights ‘stating that the colonists of the several states were entitled to the protections of the common law of England.’ Our legal tradition has been rooted in the Christian understanding that law is anchored in moral absolutes. Many of our leaders have pointed out that we are a ‘government of laws not men.’

The idea of ‘Higher law’ or ‘common law’ is rooted in the historical event of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God. Samuel Adams wrote in 1772, “The right of freedom being a gift of God Almighty, the rights of the colonists as Christians, may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the Great Law Giver which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.” (“The Rights of the Colonists” by Samuel Adams 1772) William Blackstone wrote in 1765, “Upon these two foundations the ‘law of nature’ and the ‘law of revelation’ depend all human laws.” James Madison wrote, “We have staked the whole future of the American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

As you honor and thank God this weekend, pray for our nation because we cannot sustain ourselves without the Ten Commandments and the personal application of those commandments in our lives. As citizens of the United States, it is our privilege, right, and duty to obey God above all earthly rulers, and pray for our rulers that they would put God first. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord–that is my prayer this Thanksgiving! Pray for revival–that God would bring us back to our senses!