An Election Response

As many of you did last night, I stayed up late to watch the election returns.  I was guardedly optimistic because of the closeness of the various polls in the final days before the election.  And I know that so many believers had united hearts in prayer for this election knowing of its critical nature to the future of our nation.  But as the evening hours began to wane the optimism was replaced by first shock and then disgust.  How could Americans vote for a continuance of a policy that had failed so miserably for the previous four years?  How could Americans vote for a series of promises that was nothing more than the reiteration of the same promises made four years before and never kept?  How could Americans vote for a continued gridlock in Washington?  How could Americans vote for the status quo?

As I lay in bed last night - really I was sleeping on the couch as Marlys and I had driven down to Ankeny, IA for our granddaughter's honors band concert earlier that evening, so Marlys had one couch and I had the other - sleep escaped me.  I began to remember the America that I had grown up knowing.  A nation where people looked out for one another.  A nation where governments only stepped in when neighborhoods and churches failed to do so.  A nation where trust in one's leaders was earned and respected.  America - the land of the free and the home of the brave - was a place you were proud to call your home.  I remember that during my first trip overseas to Israel in 1979, there was a pride in telling people you were from America.  I remember those famous words of John F. Kennedy as he took the oath of office in January 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Today those words of a Democratic president are as foreign to us as if they were in another language.  After the recent hurricane Sandy hit New York City, I saw a video clip of a lady hanging on to New York's Governor Cuomo and saying, "Will you build me a house?  I need a house."  And he responded, "Of course I will build you a house."  Now I am not diminishing the anguish that woman had, but her question and, unfortunately the governor's response, is indicative of what ails America today.  Why solve my own problems?  Just let the government take care of it.  Why should I take the initiative to help myself?  The government will provide for me.  Our nation now consists of nearly equal numbers of "givers" and "takers."  The "givers" are those who pay their taxes and are quick to solve their own problems without governmental interference.  The "takers" are those who, as a rule, pay no taxes, and yet are dependent upon government for assistance just to live.  The "takers" are easily swayed.  Where is that pride we once had as Americans?  We were independent thinkers.  We were independent problem solvers.  We had initiative.  We had drive to be the best in the world.  Today we have accepted second-rate status as being the new normal. 

As Marlys and I were talking over dinner tonight, she related an article she had read earlier in the day that simply stated that those of us who grew up in the Republican party with its focus upon high morality and love for country are now in a minority.  Even within the Republican party there are those who want to escape from the controversy of the abortion and homosexual issues by softening the party's stance.  Perhaps that will have to happen if the Republican party is to compete with a party that has already sold out its moral base.  But, if that happens, there will be many of us who will be left without a political house.  

One final thought entered my mind.  In fact is a thought I have been ruminating upon for the past several weeks:  What if God's will for this election is not what I wanted?  I have even prayed that I would be accepting of the outcome.  But that acceptance has not come without disappointment I must admit.  So what does this election mean for us as Christians?  First, I need to accept that God's will has been done just as I had prayed for weeks that it might be.  Second, I need to recognize with praise and thanksgiving that God is still on the throne; His plan has not been rattled because President Obama won a second term.  Third, I need to put this election into its proper focus.  I believe the time of God's judgment upon our nation is close at hand - and I believe it is even closer at hand because of yesterday's election results.  Let me just give an example from here in Minnesota where an amendment was on the ballot that would have given the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman constitutionality.  That amendment was defeated - the first time in our country's history where a state denied that constitutional definition of marriage.  Other states also gave legitimacy to same-sex marriages.  Friends, this is an egregious act before a holy God.  How much longer before God says, "I will give them over to their depraved minds and morals?"  I believe such a time is closer than we want to think.  I will not be alarmed over increased droughts that threaten people's livelihoods or violent storms destroying property and lives.  They will be acts of God "giving us over to our depravities."  Fourth, this election reminded me once again that this world is not my home, that I am a stranger here.  Perhaps we have grown too comfortable in recent years, but now that comfort has been removed.  I believe tough times are coming to those who truly profess Jesus Christ.  I believe it is time for churches to stop playing games and get seriously into the Word of God.  It is time to prepare for the persecution that is coming.  It is time for churches to create plans to help one another when such persecutions come:  legal counsel, financial assistance plans, emergency shelters and food stores, perhaps even educational resources when our children are forced to flee from the public schools.  Perhaps we had better take a lesson from our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. 

It has now been nearly twenty-four hours since those first returns were announced.  The shock has disappeared, the disappointment and disgust will take some more time to heal.  Yet my confidence in God and His Sovereignty remains even stronger.  It is time that I take more seriously my role of leadership over the flock God has entrusted to my care to prepare them for what will happen; it is not a question of "if" but "when."  As someone said, "We are just getting that much closer to the return of Jesus Christ."  To that promise and hope I will say an enthusiastic "Amen!"