I can tell you that as Christians in the free United States, we shouldn't hide out. We should go to the polls and vote, because if we all stay home on November 4, only people who don't share our values will be making decisions that affect our and our children's futures. Beyond that, I can't tell you if any of the candidates are good, moral people because I don't know any of them personally. Really, only God can look at their hearts.
The best thing we average Christians can do to stay involved in politics after the election is to pray for our government. Pray that God can work in the hearts and lives of our political figures, teaching them to rule with justice and mercy and righteousness.
The problem with taking politics too seriously beyond that is that the people we elect are just as fallible as we are. The Bible tells us that all humankind is inherently evil and can fall into sin.
When we need hope and stability, we should look for a leader who is infallible and unchanging. We need someone whose future behavior can accurately be predicted by past and present behavior, and who we can know, personally, to be good. We need the Holy and Almighty God to lead us.
God Doesn't Change
I read Psalm 93 the other day and suddenly realized that the Bible has something to say about politics, too. Let's put the entire text of the Psalm here (it's really short) and analyze it.
The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea--the Lord on high is mighty. Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O Lord. (Psalm 93 NIV)
How can the world be 'firmly established' when everything in it changes constantly? People are like grass, and their comings and goings are so short. I was thinking about all of that, and realized that this is a promise that only God can truly change the world. He is the ruler who's throne (His power over all creation) cannot be challenged successfully--it never has. We can't do anything to change things without His permission.
The discussion of ocean waves sounds like a discussion of one of the most powerful natural forces the Psalmist was familiar with, but I think it could also be a poetic description of human beings. At least, that's what I've heard before. Think about it. Ocean waves pound the shore relentlessly, tearing through rock and dashing mighty warships to pieces. Nations rage constantly against the set rules and boundaries that God has established for our lives. Either one is a powerful force that can destroy land and lives. We are reassured by the Psalmist that we needn't truly fear either one, because their strength is nothing compared to God's.
What a declaration! The Psalmist ends it with a more blatant statement of his meaning, for anyone who is still struggling with the promise. God's "statutes stand firm." No one can change what God has ruled as wrong or right--not even with government action or universal acceptance of the new truth.
I wanted to leave my readers with that promise. Nothing is really going to change. God still loves us and will not relent in doing right or serving us with justice. You can trust Him, because He isn't just giving His word. He's done it. He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from the "ocean waves." Now isn't that reassuring?
2 comments:
Amen sister. I do think that every vote matters, and we have that responsibility as Christians. It is our only way to effect any kind of change in our nation.
Exactly. We can't put our hope in a person's promises to bring us good things, but only in the constancy of the Creator. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17).
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