Good
morning. It’s Thursday.
One would
have to be a hermit, disconnected from the world in order to not have some
knowledge of the national political situation that has played out over the past
several years. Politics as we older
citizens have always known it…the politics of Jerry Ford, Bob Dole, Adalai
Stevensen, and John Kennedy, has taken a back seat to the politics of Chuck
Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump, and Mitch McConnell. It’s a different world out there…more
caustic, ideological, hard-nosed, and sharp-edged. That more caustic political tone has caused
divisions in the populace. We seem to be
more divided and entrenched in our political silos more than ever before.
However,
there is a large segment of the population that refuses to be herded into one
silo or the other. That group known as
Independents is becoming a greater influence in matters political and in
setting the agenda for the nation.
Independents like to let it be known that they are not beholden to any
political party or ideology, and will support whatever cause or candidate best
fits their world view, be that cause or candidate Republican, Democratic, or
neither.
In all of
this cacophony of noise, there is an underlying theme which tends to hold
together and promote the divisions. That
theme is fear. Those on the right are
fearful that if Joe Biden is elected President, the nation will go down the
drain. Those on the left are fearful
that if Donald Trump is re-elected to a second term, the nation will go down
the drain. And Independents fear that if
either right or left ideology has its exclusive way, the nation will go down
the drain.
I have news
for everyone. The nation will not go
down the drain because Donald Trump wins re-election. Nor will it go down the drain if Joe Biden
wins. And the same holds true if either
right or left ideology has it’s way. Who
is President, who has control of the House or Senate, who is placed on the
Supreme Court, who is Secretary of State or UN Ambassador…none of these things
will cause the nation to fall. We’re
looking at the wrong things.
This nation,
just as any nation that ever was, is, or will be, will stand or fall because
the God of the universe has decreed such.
And if God has decreed a nation’s fall, nothing on the face of the earth
can change that decree. Conversely, if
God has decreed more years for a nation, nothing on earth can change that
decree.
There are
those who believe they know what God wants for this nation, or for some other
nation (and I’m thinking of Israel now) and they are determined to see to it
that His desire is carried out…that somehow God isn’t powerful enough to
enforce His decrees on His own and has to have the help of humans to see that
it’s done as God apparently wants.
Now, I ask
you in all sincerity, does that make sense?
Does God have to have the help of humans who THINK they know what His
desire is for the nations to carry out His plan? The God who created the universe with His
word, who upholds all things (that means to keep everything running smoothly)
by the word of His power, who calms storms, raises the dead, heals the sick,
and even turns water to wine…this God is not powerful enough to effect His will
on His own? He needs US to do it for
him?
And how do
we know what God wants anyway? Who is to
say that God wants this nation or that nation to remain in power or to go
away? Does God confide in any human to
that extent? Is there any human who has
the mind of God? Or do we assume God
wants what we want…or worse yet, do we use God to justify what we want?
Whether this
nation, or any nation for that matter, stands or falls is ultimately up to the
God who created that nation in the first place.
We humans do play a part in His decisions by our faithfulness or our
depravity. God has made it plain over
the millennia that He takes a dim view of societal immorality, abuse and
neglect of the poor, greed, selfishness, pride, and faith in military
power. God is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. God never changes. If God took a dim view of those things in
nations and societies in the times of the Old Testament and also in New
Testament times, He also takes a dim view of those things today in a nation and
society.
It would do
us well to get beyond ideology, politics, right and left, and get to the heart
of the matter. How are we as a society
measuring up to God’s standards? And how
are we as individuals working to do our part to be examples of God’s love by
loving our neighbor as ourselves? That,
friend, is where we need to concentrate our energy and resources.
