Deliverance requires memory — and America is forgetting

Passover has just ended — a central story for Jews and Christians alike but also a defining narrative for America.

America’s founders drew heavily from the Exodus and the Hebrew prophets. They studied Hebrew. Some even proposed it as the official language of the United States. Benjamin Franklin, for his part, suggested that the national seal feature Moses crossing the parted Red Sea. The reverence for this story runs deep in our national DNA. It’s no accident that Hollywood — the most American of art forms — has returned again and again to retell it.

We rightly see Pharaoh as the villain of Exodus — but how many of us stop to honor the quiet heroism of Pharaoh’s daughter?

And yet, as a nation, we’ve let some of our oldest traditions fade. But that’s nothing new. God always finds a way to remind us.

Today, many Americans have begun to realize we needed the pain of 2020 and the years that followed. Without that nightmare, President Trump wouldn’t have returned with the mandate to truly save America. Without those four bitter years, the country might never have awakened to remember who we are.

This moment echoes the Exodus. Just as we needed four years of national affliction to witness Trump’s political deliverance, the Israelites needed to see God’s hand to remember His power. That’s why scripture says God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Not only to punish Egypt — but to remind His people of His unmatched might. To declare, for all to see, “that there is none like unto the Lord our God.”

And yet, even after 10 plagues and a miraculous escape, the Israelites faltered. Jewish tradition teaches that only one in five left Egypt; the rest chose the false comfort of slavery. Many who did leave lost faith before stepping into the Red Sea. Others bowed before the golden calf while Moses ascended Sinai.

Even in the face of miracles, it was easier for some to forget God than to trust Him.

Americans had forgotten even before 2020 — and God gave us a hard reminder.

So ask yourself: If we forgot who we are, what else have we forgotten?

Look again to the story of Passover. The book of Exodus begins with a chilling line: “There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.”

It wasn’t just that Pharaoh forgot Joseph. He chose not to know him. Acknowledging Joseph would have meant acknowledging the Israelites and all they had done for Egypt. Joseph saved the Egyptians from famine. His descendants helped build up the nation. So Pharaoh erased them. He enslaved them. He ordered their sons drowned in the Nile.

But not everyone forgot. Pharaoh’s own daughter remembered. She rescued Moses — the one who would lead the Israelites out of Egypt, receive the Ten Commandments at Sinai, and pass down a faith that would eventually give birth to Christianity.

That’s something worth remembering. We rightly see Pharaoh as the villain of Exodus — but how many of us stop to honor the quiet heroism of Pharaoh’s daughter?

She saved Moses when it was unpopular, even dangerous, to do so. She defied her father’s command, choosing righteousness over convenience. Her courage made everything that followed possible.

Christians have long understood the wisdom of Romans: “If the root is holy, so are the branches.” Like that olive tree, we must guard the roots to grow strong branches. We must remember.

So let us remember who we are. Americans are a people who remember God. Like Pharaoh’s daughter, we remember Joseph — even when the world forgets. Like the Israelites, we walk away from slavery and into the unknown, trusting the God who delivers.

We are that people.

I just pray we don’t forget.