No matter who your candidate for President in ’08, I’m sure you’ve had one or two e-mails come across your inbox regarding them both. These e-mails contain tag lines like: “Don’t let Satan win this election!!!” or “Don’t let the Muslims take over our country!!!” or any sensational comment to try and get your attention. I’ve received my share of these, including one recently urging us to get on our knees and pray so that God would not allow one particular candidate to take over our country and destroy our Christian rights.
Then, later that night, I picked up reading in the book of Isaiah, and ran across these words, written to the king of Assyria concerning his conquest of Israel:
“Now I have brought it to pass, that you should be for crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.” (Is. 37:26)
So, God was in control of even the invading armies of the Assyrians. Over and over in Scripture we see God orchestrating events that the children of Israel probably didn’t think were very good at the time, yet were ultimately in their best interests. Like when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, yet in the end becomes their savior (hmmm…Christ-reference in the OT, anyone?). Joseph told his brothers “what you meant for evil, God intended for good.”
Our perceptions and OUR plans don’t mean squat, in the end. Is the God of Joseph the same one we pray to today, or not? Are not His ways bigger than our ways? Is He God whether or not your candidate gets in office or not? Maybe God has something more in store for the church than living the American dream? Maybe God has something more in store for His kids than filling us with the things of this world? Maybe God wants us to seek Him and His will above all?
Maybe He wants us to stand up and live our faith, tell others about Him and His grace, and change the world like it was changed 2,000 years ago by those crazy Christians.
And maybe, just maybe, He’ll still be in control no matter who gets elected.
I’m not telling anyone to vote or not to vote, or who to vote for. I’m saying that, like we’re called to do in 2 Timothy 2:1-2, we need to pray for ALL our leaders, and potential leaders, realizing that God, not man, is in control. And don’t panic, no matter who gets in. He’s got it all in His more than able hands.
The Wading Pool 