In every new election It seems that Christians think the next person who is elected is the one that is going to end it all; he is the one that is going to ruin everything and he is the one that is going to send America and the world spinning out of control into destruction.
Right now when I think Christians and politics I automatically think fear, alarm, anxiety, unease, apprehensiveness. But is this what God wants to think about government? What does the bible say? Lets see.
"all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him 'What are you doing?'" Daniel 4:35
"For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Romans 13:1
"For Scripture says to Pharaoh (an evil old testament leader), " For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Romans 9:17
So we see here that God has allowed leaders, even the bad ones to exist. Sometimes this could be for judgment on a nation, or maybe another reasons, but what must be realized is this:
GOD IS ULTIMATELY IN CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT.
If this is the case, why do we freak out and loose our minds when certain people are elected? And why do we spend there whole term in office waiting for them to destroy everything? Even though this is possible, do we not trust God for the world and every nations ultimate outcome?
It is important here to distinguish between two aspects of God's will:
1) Moral Will (Revealed or Perfect will) - This is God's will that is revealed in His Word, the commandments of God, the will that He desires for everyone to obey and follow. Leaders can thwart this plan of God, and we should rightly vote for, and be upset when people are not elected who follow the revealed will of God.
and
2) Secret Will (Greater will) - This is the aspect of Gods will that will not be thwarted, and even the bad leaders will be fulfilling God's ultimate plan. God knows what He is doing, and he is allowing certain leaders to raise up for reasons we cannot understand. In the words of Augustine, "Through the bad wills of evil men, God fulfills what He righteously wills."
Now, if we believe this, how would it change the way we view politics? Obviously there is a tension in this: should we still try to vote for leaders that will be more in line with the moral will of God? Of course we should! But, if those leaders are not elected, we must still trust God.
His moral will is our ideal to follow and we should strongly seek after it, but His secret will should always cause us to trust Him, and know that He is ultimately in control. Although it is true that we should want the best, and be troubled when this is not followed, we should ultimately fall back on our trust in God.
Sadly, this is not how people react to government. We spend much of our lives freaking out when our leaders do not get elected, but ultimately - even though we should attempt with all our might to elect people who are godly and more in line with the revealed will of God - we should in the end trust in our sovereign Lord.
We do a great job of seeking after God's revealed will in our leaders, but we do not do such a good job in trusting God when these things do not happen. We need BOTH. We need to seek to do the will of God in the people we elect, and we need to trust in the ultimate plan of God when things do not go our way.
What kind of testimony would this give about our faith if Christians were known as trusting in God, even when things are bad, or things do not go our way. I pray this is what we will do.
No comments:
Post a Comment