HIS BANNER OVER ME WAS LOVE

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love. -Song of Solomon 2:4

From time immemorial warriors have marched into battle being led by a banner or flag held above them so they could view the identifying marker declaring who they are and to whom they belong. This same imagery is used by Solomon to indicate the flag or banner Christ raises above His beloved. His flag says to them, “I love you.

As every other nation, America has its flag to mark her identity as a distinctive country, a banner which marks her citizens as belonging to the United States of America. It is our flag! It declares we are Americans.

This flag has come under attack recently. For many it speaks to a grand and brave history. It speaks of freedom and liberty, not just for her citizens, but for the countrymen of other nations under different flags, for America has come to the aid of many others suffering under the weight of oppression from power-hungry despots and mean-spirited dictators. The history of this is incontrovertible.

Yet revisionists of history have attempted to overthrow the clarity of historical fact for an opposite narrative with no backing of any substantial truth. They sense if they tell their lies over and over it will become believable in the eyes of the ignorant. Thus, the flag becomes downtrodden as they cheer those who drop to one knee before the flag with a great history rather than honor her by standing at attention.

June 14 was Flag Day in America – at least for those who still honor her as the banner of freedom and liberty, of liberation from oppression, of strength over evil, of right over wrong.

America is like every other country in that it is a nation of sinners. Not everything that it has stood for is without sin. It represents today in its citizenry, as well as millions of illegal immigrants it allows to stay, numerous areas of heinous sin: abortion, rampant pornography, trafficking of vulnerable people, corruption of politicians, everyday gun violence by criminals, and more. But overall it is a nation marked by a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution whose framers acknowledge the existence of Almighty God and our utter dependence upon Him.

Her luster is growing dimmer, but America is still “a city set on a hill which the nations of the world still look to for doing the right thing, coming to the aid of the oppressed, the people ravaged by natural disasters and famine, people in need of resources and assistance. No other nation of the world so readily comes to the aid of those in trouble.

As citizens of heaven, believers march to the beat of a different drummer, the very One who raises a banner over us of His magnificent love for us. But, as citizens of earth, we have a flag which “still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away! As both citizens of heaven and Americans, we can still sing, “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today ‘cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA!

“Thy love divine hath led us in the past; in this free land by Thee our lot is cast. Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay. Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

(Second verse of Daniel Roberts’ hymn, “God of Our Fathers, 1876)