In these last few days, I've been hearing a lot of Christian voices saying, "Well, now that the election is over, we have to remember that God is in control, and Christ is our sovereign Lord, and ultimately our hope is in Him." I even heard one pastor say today that "If Christ is Lord, then it doesn't really matter who is in control of Congress and who sits in the White House." Agreed. But prior to the election, these were the very people who were engaged in careful political rhetoric (as far as the law would allow them, and some perhaps a little more) prophesying to their people about the horrors of seeing a particular candidate elected. Well, some of us were saying, "God is sovereign, Christ is Lord, and our hope is in Him," before the election. Some of us were laughed at by other Christians for saying such things, criticized for not being more vocal about the issues and candidates and for not being a more active part of the process. But now those who were harking political rhetoric from their pulpits are falling back on the sovereignty of God as if it were a safety net. Prior to the election they were saying that our nation was in the hands of the voters, and only now they are saying it is in the hands of a sovereign God. One wonders, what would they be saying if their chosen candidate had won?
Part of God's sovereignty entails that His purposes are not subject to the dictates of another. He does what He wants, when He wants, how He wants and why He wants. I don't know why God raises up one ruler and not another, and neither do you. But could it be that God allowed Obama to win so that those who were so heated in their political speech prior to the election would finally start talking about things like God's sovereignty, God's greater purposes, and Christ's supreme Lordship? Had McCain won, I wonder if we would be hearing of such things? We would likely be hearing about how great things happen when we human beings rally our efforts around certain causes and take action. That is what we do not need -- more of the glorification of man. Could that be one reason God acted in the affairs of our nation as He did Tuesday night? We may never know.
No one in our congregation or in our family or among my friends knows how I voted or even if I voted. Political affairs have no place in my pulpit. Why? Is it because I do not care about our country? No, it is because my belief was as strong prior to the election as it is now that God is the one who raises up and establishes authority (Rom 13:1, Daniel 2:20-21). And it is because I have more important things to discuss than who will have temporary control over this temporary nation. I am a citizen of a Kingdom that is eternal, a servant of a King who is eternal, who has spoken words of truth which are eternal. And it was those things that I spoke of before the election, and it is those things which I will continue to speak of now that it is over.
As for our President-elect, I have a biblical obligation to him. I am not obligated to agree with him on every issue, but I am obligated to submit to his authority and to pray for him (Rom 13; 1 Tim 2). Where the laws of our nation conflict with the law of God, I have a biblical obligation to side with God in civil disobedience to the laws of the land. But even this does not alleviate my repsonsibility of submission and prayer, for I must engage in civil disobedience accepting of whatever consequences or penalties man inflicts upon me for so doing, and never cease praying for those in authority. And through my actions and speech as a citizen of this nation on earth, my prayer is that all will come to know of my citizenship which is elsewhere and most importantly of the sovereign eternal King whom I serve. It is to Him that I pledge allegiance.
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