Sometimes God speaks so loudly we cannot hear, and He reveals Himself on such a grand scale that we do not see – as if to hide Himself in plain sight. But I believe it delights the heart of God to reveal Himself to men, especially when they turn to Him for mercy in their time of need. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear.

I believe the nation witnessed such a moment this past May 4, the first Thursday in May, which has been designated by an act of Congress since 1952 as The National Day of Prayer – a day when the nation calls upon God to heal our land. This practice of our leaders, writing proclamations calling for public prayer and fasting, is as old, even older, than the republic itself.

The Lord’s Prayer states, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Things are first established in Heaven before they become reality upon the earth. Prayer is no different. Our petitions are heard first in Heaven and then the answers revealed on earth. When and what we see in the earth has already taken place in Heaven, though sometimes the earthly manifestations are hindered by spiritual heavenly warfare.

The morning of May 4, 2017, began in a garden – not just any garden, probably the most famous garden in the world: the Rose Garden at the White House. The day began with the nation being called to prayer by a proclamation from two of the most recognized people in the world – President Trump and Vice President Pence. They called we the people to make petitions to God on behalf of the nation. The National Day of Prayer began for the first time in a garden with fellowship between God and man.

Immediately after that time of prayer in the Rose Garden, the president signed an executive order restoring authority to America’s pastors, priests and clergy and the right to freedom of speech from their pulpits, in opposition to the 1954 Johnson Amendment. He then further instructed the Justice Department to rule whenever possible by law on behalf of the First Amendment rights and the individual’s freedoms to worship God in the marketplace as their conscious dictates.

I recall it was in a Garden called Eden, where man lost fellowship with God and the authority of the earth’s dominion. So how fitting that it is in a garden – a rose garden – like the rose of Sharon, President Trump restored to our pastors the right to speak the words of His covenant to the nation. In effect, our nation’s moral voice and spiritual compass was restored last week in a garden. And like Adam, we now again have a choice as to what we will do with this restored authority. God forbid that we question again, “Hath God said?”

But I believe God had just begun to speak to the nation last Thursday morning, to let us know that He had heard our petitions from Heaven and was n deed beginning to heal our land.

By the afternoon, a mile and a half down Pennsylvania Avenue – outside the Rose Garden – on a hill, Capitol Hill, the House voted and passed the American Health Care Act, a piece of legislation designed to provide physical healing for the nation. Certainly, it has a long way to go before it becomes law, but the process of healing began nonetheless. Is it a coincidence that it took six weeks for the bill to make its way back to the floor after being pulled by Speaker Ryan for lack of votes to pass it? That now, suddenly on the National Day of Prayer, of all days, it finally had enough votes to pass?

And might I remind us that healing is an incremental process, not like an instantaneous miracle. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God does not promise the nation a “miracle” but a “healing” when we call out to Him in penitent prayer.