Lincoln's Struggle and Ours

This week I was struck by the PBS special "Looking for Lincoln" with Henry Lewis Gates Jr. and the article "The Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln" by Mark Noll.  Though I have never read a complete biography about the 16th president I have always considered Lincoln a great leader; primarily through reading his many letters and speeches.  Certainly, despite the fact that he issued the Emancipation Proclamation and promised, after the surrender at Appomattox, that he would give the vote to soldiers who fought on behalf of the North, Lincoln was no abolitionist.  In fact, Lincoln's early statements show that he, like most Midwesterners of his day, was prejudiced against Negros.  However, in Lincoln's second inaugural address we see a radically different world view driven by a theological struggle.  Lincoln, through the crucible of the war, experienced a renewal, a change of heart, an awakening.  The redeemed Lincoln, far from the calculating politician who once advocated buying all slaves and returning them to Africa, now saw blacks, especially those who sacrificed to preserve the Union, as entitled to the greatest prize in the eyes of any politician, the vote.  In a way, the tribulation of the war remade not only Lincoln but America itself.  In Lincoln's redemption is a lesson for us in today's America.   While there is great injustice and evil in the world, God may just be speaking to us in the wars and tribulations of life.  The question is, are we listening?