Dan
4:17 "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand
by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the
most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,
and setteth up over it the basest of men."
Reading the
Facebook posts of many of my Christian friends, I get the feeling that they
believe that because of the outcome of the elections, it’s all over, there’s no
hope for America, and we might as well go hide in a cave. The morning
headlines appear to many to be a national tragedy. I confess that I am
very disappointed, but I think the best thing that we can do now is to take
some good advice.
Over the years,
as a pastor, I have had the opportunity to minister to a multitude of people
who were facing disappointment, loss, and even tragedy in their lives.
The common response among those people has been, “What do I do now?”
We generally
have an idea of where we believe the future will take us, the direction that we
are headed and the possible and desired outcomes if things go the way we
plan. When faced with sudden disappointment or a drastic change in
circumstance, we are often at a loss to know what to do.
The best advice
that I can give is this, “Do the next thing.” When problems appear to be
insurmountable, just focus on the next task. It’s the famous recipe for
eating an elephant, first, you cut it into bite-sized pieces.
So as Christians
in America, what is the next thing? Well, let’s look at what Scripture has to
say.
First, we must
acknowledge that God is the one who puts rulers in place, so it must mean that
He will ultimately get the most glory by the results of the election being what
they are.
Second, Romans
13 tells us that we must honor the king. Don’t tell me that it couldn’t
mean THIS ruler, because Romans 13 was written while Nero was dousing
Christians in tar, lighting them on fire and hanging them up as street lights
in Rome. God takes our response to His delegated authorities very
seriously. As a matter of fact, He says that “Rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft…,” so let’s keep that in mind.
Third, let’s
consider the impact on our nation if God’s people would spend as much time,
energy, emotion, and resources, talking about the Good News as they have been
talking about politics. What if we genuinely addressed the problems
of this country at the grassroots level where real change takes place anyway?
You want to put
an end to abortion? Teach your children a biblical understanding of sex
and marriage and minister compassionately to those who are reaping the harvest
of this country’s moral decay.
You want to
preserve the sanctity of marriage? It’s not the homosexuals that have
made marriage a mockery in this country, it is the many, many heterosexuals who
have totally disregarded their vows “for as long as we both shall live.”
You want to deal
with the fiscal problems of this country? Deal first with the materialism
that leads us to so overburden ourselves with debt that we cannot bring
ourselves to be obedient in the tithe or in giving to missions or in helping
the poor.
For the last few
months, there has been a lot of talk about II Chron. 7:14, hoping that if we
heeded its warning, we might be able to achieve our desired outcome in these
elections. The need for God’s intervention hasn’t changed in the last 24
hours. And the course of action that God demands hasn’t changed
either. We still have to humble ourselves. Political rants about
the unfit nature of this President, don’t come from humble hearts. We
still have to pray. Prayer is a simple acknowledgement that God knows
best and is the only one capable of accomplishing real change. We still
have to seek His face. God is looking for worshippers who will pursue a
genuine relationship with Him, not just for what they can get out of it, not
just so that they will get their way, but in order to see his will
accomplished. And more than ever, His people, called by His name, must turn
from their wicked ways. It is the only way to see real revival and real
change.
Our country has
faced moral decay and moral degradation a few times in its history.
Twice, God has sent a Great Awakening among His people and revival has swept
over our land. We need to pray for a third Great Awakening, before it is
eternally too late.
Is today a bad
day for America? Only if we let it be. It can be the beginning of a
very good day, if we will just simply set out to be the salt and light we are
called to be and to be the change that we want to see.
My
name is Marty Hughes, and I approved this message. :0)
