Discerning The Flood Tide

“There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood (high), leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and misery. On such a full sea we are now afloat.”

You may have heard this phrase before when used as a metaphor to describe an imminent event, personal or otherwise, that required an immediate response for advantage to be secured. Or you may be a Shakespeare fan and recognize the language from Julius Caesar. Herein, Brutus and Cassius are having an intense discussion about what immediate actions should be taken in the late stages of a civil war.

Cassius urges that they assemble their army in a secure location at Sardis to “catch their breath”. Brutus advocates that they advance to Philippi to stop and defeat Octavian before he can recruit more troops. Brutus essentially says that we must set sail now at high tide, while the ratio of forces favors our cause. If we delay, we will surely run aground attempting to sail out of our “secure/safe harbor”. Sound familiar?

I believe that we are at one of those high tides in the life of our nation. As with Brutus and Cassius, we face a dangerous, uncertain future while we hear of essentially two diametrically opposing views. One is for retreating to the security of Sardis and the other is for advancing to Philippi to encounter the enemy. I am not referring to ISIS but rather to the more subtle and insidious cultural cancer that is eating away and sapping the very life out of the Judeo-Christian culture that I was born into in 1946.

As a nation, we have been here a few times before in our national life…1775, 1860, 1941, and the 1960’s to name some of the more perilous times. American DNA was being “coded” in the colonial era and was written into the body of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. So let us take a brief look at the beginning and then perhaps be able to see our way forward. Winston Churchill once said, “The farther backward you are able to look, the farther forward you are likely to be able to see.”

On March 20, 1775, the Virginia delegates were meeting in a church in Richmond to avoid interference from the Lt. Governor and his Royal Marines. British army units had occupied Boston for five years and each year the force of tyranny was becoming more oppressive throughout the 13 colonies. As the meeting went on, it was obvious that most of those present were of the persuasion of Cassius, to “catch their breath” and seek reconciliation with King George.

Patrick Henry, on the other hand, was almost alone in the assembly in the persuasion of Brutus. Here is some of what he said: “I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left to us! They tell me that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary… but shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? ...There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.”

A few words later, Patrick Henry ended his speech with a phrase that carried the day… “as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Some 15 months later the Declaration of Independence came to life and the tide taken, at the flood leads on to fortune.

With all of our advanced technology we cannot create a tide at our ports for ocean-going vessels nor can we create such a tide for our nation to ride. However, we can discern such a tide and believe that there is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations. We can declare in the public square that righteousness exalts a nation. Those beliefs really are coded into our American DNA. The basic question before us is much the same as it was in that church meeting on March 20, 1775. Will we fight for what we hold dear…or will we wait for our enemy to strengthen while we weaken?

Barney Barnes, Warrior Spirit Ministries, 02-12-25