The day after tomorrow is perhaps the most consequential Election Day in American history, at least since the last one. There’s a lot on the line, at both the national and state levels. Is a new golden age on our horizon? Or will we, as Ronald Reagan warned sixty years ago, take the first steps into a thousand years of darkness?
Whatever happens on Tuesday and the days that follow we must remember that God is sovereign. That doesn’t mean everything will go the way we think it should — ask dissident Christians who lived through the Soviet Union or who are in hiding in Communist China today how things have gone for them. As you know, our Lord Jesus Christ never promised us peace and prosperity, but He did promise never to leave us.
If Donald Trump wins a landslide victory, if Proposition 1 goes down to a massive defeat, and if conservatives run the table in legislative and county elections, God is sovereign, and we must devote ourselves to the work of living out the gospel and promoting our values in Idaho.
If Donald Trump loses, or the election is “fortified” once more; if Proposition 1 wins and becomes the law of the land, and if conservatives come up short, then God is sovereign and we must devote ourselves to the work of living out the gospel and promoting our values in Idaho.
The story of Job has brought reassurance to the people of God for thousands of years. Job was a good man who was richly blessed with material wealth. The Accuser tells God that Job is only faithful because of such blessings; take them away and he would surely curse God instead. So God allows a lot of bad things to happen to Job to test his faith, basically everything except his own death. He loses his herds of animals, his children, and is even afflicted with painful sores across his whole body. Yet, contrary to the Accuser’s prediction, Job remains faithful.
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21 ESV
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job 2:10b
The lesson that Job eventually had to learn is that mankind is simply incapable of comprehending God. Trying to map current events to the infinite will of God is foolish and self defeating. Even some of the men who followed Jesus during His ministry could not comprehend how His death and resurrection fulfilled Scripture.
Like Lot, we can hope for mercy in the midst of a perverse society, but if God chooses judgment, then His will be done. God judged the people of Israel numerous times throughout their history, yet He always made an allowance for a remnant of the faithful. If, in God’s providence, the worst happens, may we remain that faithful remnant.
On the other hand, if things go well, our task does not change. We will thank God for his mercy, then resist the temptation to rest on our laurels and consider the job done. It never ends, and we were not put on this earth to relax.
Keep the Serenity Prayer in mind as you confront the tasks before you. Know the difference between things you can influence and control and the things you can’t. Do your best regarding the former and don’t let the latter get you down. No matter what happens, trust God and move forward with the task before you.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 ESV
