WordJourney

The election is over and the results are in – Barack Obama has been chosen to be America’s 44^th president.

21 months after announcing his candidacy, President-elect Obama has earned the right to take over the most powerful office in our country, indeed in the entire world. His winning the presidency is truly historic, the first person of African ancestry who will hold that position.

I’m not so much stunned by the unfolding of events, as I am disappointed with the results. Barack Obama ran an amazingly disciplined campaign, but his candidacy raised several questions that the media, indeed the general populace, chose to ignore.

These questions involved his past associations with some of the most stridently leftist people in our country, a politician with a track record of having a wanton disregard for unborn life, and someone who received vast funding from foreign sources which may have helped tip the election in his favor.

True, John McCain’s election bid had always been run in the shadow of the Bush presidency, a conflictingly divisive eight years of leadership where we saw our president heroically respond to terrorist attacks, launch wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also spend money like few liberals had done before him.

For the Christian, waking up this morning to a shifting political landscape can truly be disheartening. Have our prayers not been heard? Is our nation accelerating down the path of moral degradation? What does the future hold for us?

I cannot answer these and related questions, but I can continue to trust that Almighty God is most certainly aware of what is going on in our world and that He is in full control no matter who is in office. To that end, I will share with you three verses which are sustaining me now, scripture verses that underscore the authority of God and how we should respond during these times:

Isaiah 40:15 — Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. During those times that I lose my perspective, I try to recall those verses which remind me of how God views things. Truly, our Maker loves the nations, but as far as their overall importance, they are of comparable insignificance to Him. Nations come and go, but our God shall reign forever. I certainly am an American, but my permanent citizenship is in heaven. Jesus is my Sovereign – he wasn’t elected by man.

Proverbs 21:1 — The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will. We need to pray for our leaders, starting today for President-elect Obama. Judging by what Obama has said over the past several months, I can tell you that he takes scripture out of context and has an agenda that runs contrary to godly principles. But, God is sovereign and can change his heart, so let’s intercede on his behalf. Millions of Americans need a change of heart too – spiritually, that is.

2 Corinthians 10:4 — For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; How should we fight? In just one way – we pray. We do not war against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. Obama isn’t directly our enemy even if his intentions toward us may be less than honorable. For Christians, responding in love is the only way to handle any situation, but we need to ask God to flood our hearts with His redeeming love so that we might win souls to Him.

I’m not going to tell you how to deal with disappointment other than to lovingly remind you that God is in control. Do not allow anyone steal your joy and most definitely do not give up. Our battle all along was really never against people, rather against those unseen forces which continually seek to keep people from the loving embrace of Jesus Christ.  In that battle remain engaged IF we do not give up!

Friday is the birth date for the United States of America, the 232nd celebration of this country’s independence. It seems only like yesterday that we celebrated America’s bicentennial, an event that took place less than two weeks after I graduated from high school.

I’ve witnessed plenty of changes in our country over the years and, what I don’t recollect personally, I heard at the knees of my parents, aunts and uncles, and my grandparents. Knowing people who remember when residential electrical and/or telephone service first arrived, who actually owned a Model “T”, or who fought in the second, never mind the first world war tends to broaden one’s scope on how dramatic the changes have been. I heard a lot of stories about life during the Great Depression, a time that truly tested this nation’s resolve.

My feelings about these and other changes are mixed — civil rights and freedom for all Americans has been realized, but many people are taking the word “freedom” and twisting it to mean “license” to do whatever they want. I’m not going to rehash the obvious, rather I’m urging Christians to do what we should never tire of doing: interceding in prayer to God on behalf of this nation.

“If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

If you read through the Old Testament, you soon realize that the problems facing America today are similar to the problems facing the nation of Israel thousands of years ago. The Israelites turned away from God, chose to follow idols, and found themselves practicing every sort of debauchery possible. Leviticus 18 offers a clear illustration of the sins practiced and the result of that sin — God promised to vomit them out of the land for defiling the land.

Unlike some who teach that all Americans must repent in order for God’s blessing to return, I believe 2 Chronicles is directed at people who “are called by my Name.” For Israel, that applied to the Jews of that day; but for America, the call seems directed at professing believers — followers of Jesus Christ.

I believe that instead of railing against the sinful practices of so many of our fellow Americans we should examine our own hearts and come before the Lord in repentance. Once our hearts have been made right before God, then we are in a position to cry out to Him on behalf of others. Who knows, but it may not be too late for this country and God could choose to heal our land.

Sure, I understand the application of this verse applies to Israel primarily, but it also serves to remind Christians the world over of one important point — we need to have our own hearts cleansed and we’re to intercede on behalf of others. Why? So that we can live in peace will all men.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. (1 Timothy 2:1:6)

I believe that the United States of America is perhaps the greatest nation ever to rise up on this earth. Israel, of course, is the nation that God chose to be a light to all of the nations, but God has blessed America in so many ways that some have lost sight of that fact while others aren’t even aware of it.

I know that I can’t change people’s hearts and minds, but I know of Someone who can. The most effective “weapon” we have in this world is prayer, so let’s use it often to intercede on behalf of this great nation.

May God truly bless America with a repentant heart.

Photo Credit: Mark Alan