Renewed

Abraham Lincoln was carrying the weight of the world that summer day in 1863. After visiting the War Department, he told his wife, “It is dark, dark everywhere.” America was mired in a tragic Civil War. It seemed like a hopeless time for people on both sides.

Many thought they knew Lincoln. But Elizabeth Keckley had a unique perspective. A freed slave, she had become a seamstress for Lincoln’s wife and shared many intimate moments with the family. She knew that those “were sad, anxious days to Mr. Lincoln, and those who saw the man in privacy only could tell how much he suffered.”

That day, Elizabeth watched Lincoln while she fitted a dress on Mrs. Lincoln. His face was sad. “He was a complete picture of dejection.” Then, Lincoln “took a small Bible” and “soon was absorbed in reading.” He read silently for more than fifteen minutes, reading “with Christian eagerness.” Gradually, his appearance was transformed. His face “seemed more cheerful. The dejected look was gone, replaced by “new resolution and hope.” He looked like “a new man.”

What made such a difference? She discovered that Lincoln was reading from Job. She was overwhelmed, realizing how this “ruler of a mighty nation” found such “comfort and courage.”

The book of Job has had this impact on many throughout history. It gives us perspective and hope in our darkest hours.