Recently I was asked what my favorite “monuments” in our nation’s capital are. That’s an easy one for me to answer; however, the follow up question is what stumped me. “Andrew, if there was one monument you could show someone who was a skeptic or non-believer in the founding of America on Biblical principles, where would you take them?” Puzzled for a moment, I thought about where I’d been, what I’ve learned and all that I have seen and it clicked. I would probably take them to the gallery in the U.S. House of Representatives. Why?
 
Well, if you are ever given the opportunity to visit the chamber of the most powerful group of legislators (or should be anyway) in our nation and quite frankly at any given time in history the most powerful room in the world you would see a few things. First, you would see side-profile images of lawgivers surrounding the room. Cool right? It gets even better. Remember I said this is the most powerful room in the world at any given time? That is because this is the place from which the president of the United States gives his State of the Union Address to our nation. Joined with all the members of congress, the vice president, joint chiefs, and Supreme Court justices. But, if you watch closely, as the president walks in the door to deliver the State of the Union and look up, you will see a full facial image of Moses above the door. It’s interesting that it’s Moses who receives the full image in the House. So, why Moses? Because he is the original giver of law – God’s law. He now proverbially oversees the new givers of the law as if to ensure they first uphold the law of God in all the legislation they pass.
 
That would be enough for any skeptic right? I’ve walked and visited all the monuments and relics in our nation’s capital, I’ve seen all the mentions of God and His Word but none have ever sent a chill down my spine like that one. As grand and marvelous as the others seem, here is a small, seemingly unnoticeable reminder that our nation’s founding and that our lawgivers have an even higher standard than the law of the land. They too will answer and be accountable before God.
 
Wait – there’s more and it’s more recent than our founding. If you look at the eyes of Moses, they are looking in a specific direction, to where the Speaker sits and consequently the area from which the President delivers his address. What’s so special about that? Well you probably remember a man by the name of John F. Kennedy? He was actually the first president to deliver the State of the Union under the words etched in marble and lined in gold, “In God We Trust.” It seems that Moses’ eyes are affixed to those words now. I cannot confirm that this was done intentionally or that anyone else has really noticed, but I have. This is the spiritual heritage of our nation. Those words and that image serve to us as reminders that God is the keeper of nations, that it is He who delivers His people and keeps them. I’m reminded of the words of Benjamin Franklin, “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.”
 
I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. Why leave the founding of the greatest nation on earth to chance, when we can see the reminders of a fervent trust in The Creator and we see the hands of His wisdom and providence in our documents, buildings and laws? To God be the glory in our land, for it is He who blesses America.
By Andrew Chavarrilla