Intro Presidential Politics and campaign
Throughout this last week I have paid special attention to the Presidential politics by watching the Democratic National Convention on TV. After it was all over I began to realize that something odd was happening, and at first I dismissed it, but then I was on a message board posting about something that I saw on TV, and again I saw it. Now I love politics as much as the next guy, but there is a vicious fight between two groups of people and they are each lifting up their hero, and tearing at each other in ways that aren’t only un-Christian, but truly un-American. We truly live in a divided America, two sets of ideology, two sets of convictions. There are red states and blue states, liberals and conservatives, democrats and republicans. It has pitted mother against son, brother against brother, friend against friend.
After giving this some thought I came to realize that there was something truly wrong here.
Psalm 118:5-9
In my anguish I cried to the Lord and he answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
When I was in High School I used to think that someone who graduated college must have had it all together, and I used to think that doctors must be brilliant. Then I got into college and I realized that I didn’t have it all together, and I graduated from college and still didn’t have it all together. After this I began to realize something, those doctors that I thought were so brilliant weren’t that brilliant after all. I’ve come to the conclusion that doctors are the ones who simply stayed in school longer than the rest of us. With this understanding I began to be a little more hesitant in blindly following whatever I was told by someone who held a Ph.D or an M.D.. After all they are just people and people can’t know everything, and people certainly aren’t perfect.
A long time ago in Israel the people were looking around at all the nations that surrounded them and they saw that they all had something that Israel did not have: A King. So the people began to call out to Samuel for God to give them a king.
1 Samuel 8:6
“Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, 7 and the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
In their zeal to be like other nations they had forgotten that they did have a king, they had forgotten that their king was the king of kings, and the Lord of lords. They wanted a person to sit on a throne, a person to govern them and make them a great nation. And in doing so they removed their faith in God, and sought to place it in a man.
For years God had struggled with his people, because they continually sought out idols to worship, and they placed their faith in those idols only this time the idol was to be a man, an earthly king who would rule them.
God even told his people what would happen if a king ruled Israel, and we have the first negative add in politics.
“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you:
he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots;
appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties
and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest
and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.
He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his attendants.
He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his attendants.
He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work.
He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.
18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
The people were so blinded by their desire for a king to rule over them that they paid no attention to the warning that was given to them. All they knew is that they wanted a king, because they believed that if they had a king then Israel would be a great nation.
It ironic, how far we have come throughout history with all of our advancements in technology, and medicine, and yet we are still calling out to God to give us a king!
Granted we don’t call Him a king, we call him President, and he may not rule us for his entire life, but he is still our ruler, and he is still just a man. He still thinks like a man, he still acts like a man, and he will still make mistakes like a man, regardless of what his advisors tell you. And yet we cry out for this man to govern us, we cry out for this man to guide us through uncertainty, we cry out for this man to give us direction, we cry out for this man to give us prosperity, we cry out for him to provide for us, we cry out for him to protect us.
Wait! Govern us, guide us, direct us, bless us, provide for us, and protect us. We aren’t calling out for a king or a President, we are calling out for God! These are all the things that God does for us, and yet we are counting on a man to provide them.
President of the United States is arguably the most powerful man in the world.
But he is still a man, and he still lacks the power to save us from our sins. There is only one king that we should be crying out for, only one king who is worthy to rule us, only one king who has the wisdom to guide us, the provisions to provide for us, and the strength to protect us. That king is Jesus.
2 Chronicles 7:12
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
During this campaign season we must not be blinded by all of the promises from the candidates. We must keep from placing our faith in men.
No matter who wins in this election, in four years there will still be people who are complaining about their lives. There will still be people who are lost and need to be found. There will still be the hungry that need fed, the lonely that need comforted, the hurting that need peace, and the sick that need healed. No president can make these things go away.
It is not the President that we must look to in our lives, it is God.
By all means go out and vote this November. Vote for which ever candidate you believe, or rather believe is the lesser of two evils, but remember that to place our faith in a man is to reject God.
