Election Day is finally here (Finally! We're choking on mean-spirited, accusatory campaign ads!). Because the day is imbued with such importance by so many, it is a particularly strong temptation today for Christians (American ones, anyway) to fall into fear, forgetting that God rules over history, and that while we may enjoy some facets of the nation in which we happen to live, in the grand scheme of things it is just one more nation. God's been dealing with nations and empires and kings and rulers for a long time - Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Persia, Babylon, Canaan, Rome, Greece, Britain, America, Russia, etc.
So today let us not put our trust in human beings, mere mortals who cannot save. Instead, let us put our trust in the Lord, who alone can save, who alone gives life, whose kingdom has come and will never end, no matter what happens to America.
Halden says it this way: "On this day of fixation, panic, and misplaced confidences, perhaps we would do best to remember the words of the Prophet Isaiah,
which call us, not to excessive preoccupation with the state of the
nation we sojourn in, but rather in our missional vocation as God’s
people:"
You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
(Isaiah 40:9-17)
