The Skeptic in the White House
Abraham Lincoln was not a churchgoing man. His critics called him a skeptic. But those who knew him in his final years saw something different: a president wrestling deeply with God.
The Civil War broke Lincoln. Over 600,000 Americans died. The president carried that weight every day.
Driven to His Knees
"I have been driven many times upon my knees," Lincoln confessed, "by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
Lincoln began attending New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. He would slip in after services started and sit in the pastor's office, listening through the door to avoid the public spectacle of the president at church.
"When I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I gave myself to Christ," Lincoln later told a friend. "I do love Jesus."
With Malice Toward None
His second inaugural address stunned the nation with its theological depth: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right..."
Six weeks later, Lincoln was assassinated. But his journey from skeptic to surrendered believer became one of America's most powerful testimonies of faith in public life.
Even presidents—especially presidents—need to kneel.
