Do you, like President Lincoln, believe in divine providence? That God not only shapes history but guides the affairs of man. Lincoln believed that God had a divine destiny, a certain purpose for his life. God has a purpose for your life. (Jeremiah 29:11-13) You can seek, develop, and do God’s will or go your own way.

Besides having a pervading belief in providence Abraham Lincoln had a deep admiration for the Bible and a belief in the power of the Word of God. Lincoln’s speeches and writings were saturated with scripture or allusions to the Word of God. One can tell that his use of scripture was not contrived but what was in him just flowed out naturally in his speech and writing.

Perhaps Stephan A. Douglas did more than anyone else to elevate Lincoln to the White House. Douglas split the Democratic Party and put three candidates in the field against Lincoln instead of one. Lincoln realized that he would be victorious but he feared he would not carry his own precinct or his home town. A committee was sent out to do a canvas and find out how the people of Springfield would vote. When Lincoln saw the results he was astonished – all except three of the 23 ministers and theological students in town were against him and so were their followers. Lincoln commented, “They pretend to believe in the Bible and be God-fearing Christians’ yet by their ballots they are demonstrating that they don’t care whether slavery is voted up or down. But I know God cares and humanity cares and if they don’t, surely they have not read their Bibles aright.”

It’s surprising to discover that all of Lincoln’s relatives on his fathers’ side and all except one on his mother’s side voted against him. Why? They were more loyal to their political party than they were to God and what the Word of God teaches. What about today? If you have read and believe the Bible that Lincoln read and believed, then you must be pro-life and pro-family. Why? Because God is! Do you vote with your conscience or by political party loyalty?

Abraham Lincoln highly esteemed the Bible. “I believe the Bible is the best gift that God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book. I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”

In an address to the Wisconsin State Agriculture Society in 1859 Abraham Lincoln illustrated the profound and tempering effect that change can have on us. He told of an eastern monarch who gave his counselors an assignment to come up with a truth that would apply to all times and situations. After careful consideration, they returned with this sentence, “And this too shall pass away.” Lincoln said, “How chastening in the hour of pride and how consoling in the hour of affliction.”

Centuries before, the Apostle John made the same point – the world passes away but he who does the will of God abides forever. (I John 2:17) Things change but Jesus gave us one constant, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 25:34).

Where did Lincoln get his theology and beliefs from? The Bible. Lincoln had a deep seated belief in immortality. That after death man will live forever in heaven or hell according to his faith and obedience to the Savior. Abraham Lincoln said, “Surely God would not have created such a being as man to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.”

Do you read, believe, and obey Lincoln’s Bible?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:26).