Horse Sense: Emergency Numbers

Emergency numbers may be dialed direct. No operator assistance is necessary. All lines are open 24 hours a day.
When in sorrow, call John 14. When men fail you, call Psalm 27. If you want to be fruitful or when people seem unkind, call John 15. When you have sinned, call Psalm 51. When you worry, call Matthew 6:19-34. When you’re in danger, call Psalm 91. When God seems far away, call Psalm 139. When your faith needs stirring, call Hebrews 11. When you are lonely and fearful, call Psalm 23. When you grow bitter and critical or are losing confidence in people, call 1 Corinthians 13. For Paul’s secret to happiness, call Colossians 3: 12-17. When you feel down and out, call Romans 8: 31-39. When you want peace and rest, call Matthew 11: 25-30. When the world seems bigger than God, call Psalm 90. When you want Christian assurance, call Romans 8: 1-30. When you leave home for labor or travel, call Psalm 121. When your prayers grow narrow or selfish, call Psalm 67. For opportunity, call Isaiah 55. When you want courage for a task, call Joshua 1. On getting along with fellowmen, call Romans 12. When you think of investments and returns and what is important, call Mark 10. If you get depressed, call Psalm 27. If your pocketbook is empty, call Psalm 37. If discouraged about your work, call Psalm 126. If you find the world growing small, and yourself great, call Psalm 19. For a complete directory, consult the Holy Bible and let your fingers do the walking.
Indeed, in days before mobile cell or even landline phones, the Founding Generation used these same numbers. We share ‘that mind which was also in Christ Jesus’—and also come to know the Founders intimately, simply by knowing our Bibles better. George Washington studied his Bible regularly and prayed every day, as he did in one iconic moment famously captured on canvass kneeling in front of his horse during the cold dark days of Valley Forge. The second president John Adams was particularly disciplined at his reading, always carrying “a poet in his pocket” and reading the entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation every year, year after year. Adams’ familiarity with Scripture and the wisdom that grew out of that familiarity, were admirable in his day, remarkable and certainly worthy of emulation in ours. There are several reading plans that would enable you to comfortably read the Bible in one year. If approached this way, it becomes fairly easy to manage. It becomes a matter of priority, i.e., what you give attendance to. According to 1 Timothy 4: 13, we are supposed to give attendance to such reading.
It is important to realize that the Founders and the Puritan Fathers before them were steeped in the Bible. The Judeo-Christian tradition therefore largely defines their worldview, and out of it, proceeded conclusions and a common understanding of what is right and wrong, good and evil; what is important and what is subsidiary. Morality wasn’t just anyone’s opinion or the determination of a ballot; rather, it was Biblically based—enforced by peers and social pressure to some extent, reflective in the laws. No one questioned whether there was purpose, or that the purpose of life is ultimately spiritual. The God of the Universe and Nature made man, and at the same time endowed him with rights that ought to be respected by other men. God made man free, man’s free will an imperative to God’s redemptive plan, whereby He sent His Son (that ‘whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life’). Government essentially served to facilitate this divine process. The First Amendment was written foremost out of a respect for God and the intercession of His Son; it was hardly an expression of hostility or even neutrality towards religion. The Founders who wrote the First Amendment never envisioned a throttle on public expression of religious sentiment, or on the States to include prayer in public schools if they chose to do so. And while there were things belonging unto Caesar, i.e., enumerated powers and obligations of the people to the national government according to the Constitution, there were many more things that did not and could not belong to Caesar. These United States moreover, threw off the yoke of kings and the pretension of having a Caesar. The Chief Executive was subdued by the law, by checks and balances, and by separation of powers. These United States were self-governed; and in terms of national prerogative, they were to be governed chiefly through the Legislative Branch of Congress—by elective representatives, accountable to a vigilant and godly people who read the Bible. When the Constitution seems far away, call the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. If those lines keep ringing without an answer, try the Fifteenth and the Second.
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Wesley Allen Riddle is a retired military officer with degrees and honors from West Point and Oxford. Widely published in the academic and opinion press, he ran for U.S. Congress (TX-District 31) in the 2004 Republican Primary. Email: wes@wesriddle.com.