With the elections only a few days away, God brought something very interesting to my attention. Before I tell you about it I have to say that I despise politics to the very core of my being. Politics is about lying and telling half-truths to accomplish a private or partisan agenda. Because of my disdain for politics, this past year has been excruciating for me. The focus in the news, in commercials, and in everyone's mind is the elections. Why? Because people have a deep belief that if we can just get the right combination of president and congress working together we can turn the US into a utopia. We need the right programs, the right spending, the right military actions, etc. My question is "what is right and who decides?" What seems right to me seems wrong to someone else. Who's to say which of us is more right? What if we are both wrong? What if in our elections we only have two bad choices? Is it okay to vote for the 'lesser of two evils?' I don't have the answers to these questions, I only have more questions. So instead of weighting down your mind, let me share what God revealed to me today.
I was reading in the Psalms as is my practice every morning, when I came upon Psalm 146 (the first Psalm in today's reading).
1. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2. I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3. Do not trust in princes (or presidents), In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
4. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
5. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6. Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever (He'll do what he promises);
7. Who executes justice for the oppressed (not the court system); Who gives food to the hungry (not the welfare system). The Lord sets the prisoners free.
8. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind (not national healthcare); The Lord raises up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous;
9. The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow (again with welfare), But He thwarts the way of the wicked (again with the court system).
10. The Lord will reign forever (not only for four to eight years), Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth!" (Psalm 121:1,2)
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3 comments:
AMEN!!
Well, I don't know how much space I have, and I might as well get my own blog to talk about this...
A day after election day, and I have heard a mix of comments.
'Are you racist?'
'He'll be assassinated.'
'We'll see...'
That last one was me, and the first was a coworker when I said I didn't really feel 'happy' that Barack got elected. I said that I thought the fact that he was a black candidate (first one to actually make it to the 'true' election) had a lot to do with it.
Anyways, she thought I was a bigot or something for bringing up the fact that he's BLACK. I laughed to myself, I don't care that he's African in physical genealogy, but rather that I don't like his stance on just about anything.
Then I had to think long and hard about some Biblical truths.
- Jesus didn't flat out disrespect the Roman Government, even though I'm SURE they weren't too popular... at least it isn't recorded, which is to say that it's NOT IMPORTANT TO THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST.
- Saul was a great king. Then he changed. If God can work something good out of Saul's awful last years, then President Obama deserves at least some time.
- Whether or not people want to believe that Pr. Obama is a terrorist or not, he won't be able to topple the US from the President's office... We'd need a whole slew of Muslims in the entirety of congress and the House for that to be a true worry in my mind.
- This is a guess and out on a limb a touch, but doesn't the Word of God teach us that we should respect our leaders, because even the wicked and awful ones are given to us by God for a purpose?
We as the American people elected this man as our new representative. Personally? I don't LIKE it one little bit, but I will merely express that as personal opinion, and give my full American respect to the man who is leading our country, for better or for worse.
I guess we need to be the Christians that we claim to be and not show people hate, but shoe them that we love, tolerate and respect the choices made by our countrymen (and women) and more importantly by God, who allows all these things to happen for His will to be fulfilled, that He might be glorified above all things.
Yeah, told you it was a lot.
Love, Peace, Patience...
Billy
I want to pick up on your last point, Bill. Romans 13 deals specifically with the issue of respecting authority and submitting to them. Paul wrote this during the rule of Nero in Rome and we all know what a great job Nero did of ruling. Also, Paul told Timothy that "entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life..." (1 Tim. 2:1,2). There is another verse and I can't remember where right now, it says that we are not to speak evil of our ruling authorities. So I don't want to hear any negative comments attacking Mr. Obama's character... his policies, sure, but not his character.
I agree with you, Bill, in that I am not concerned or afraid of having Mr. Obama as the leader of our country. What gives me pause and cause for concern is the response to his election. In one interview I heard, a lady Democrat stated that this is the first time in eight years she has had hope in her heart. That is a sad commentary on our country and the hopeless state we are in. From an entirely humanistic point of view, I have also not had hope in my heart because of our current president and his policies; however, with the president elect I still have no hope in my heart. My hope is in the Lord...
IN GOD WE TRUST!
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