The 2020 Presidential election may not be settled for some time. For a good number of people, their candidate will not be elected. I know that can be depressing. It will be instructive to look to scripture to see if something like this has happened before.
In our 1st example, Israel had a yo-yo relationship with the Lord in the book of Judges. God would give them great victories over their enemies. Israel was at their highest during these times. Then another generation would arise who didn’t know the Lord or desire to follow in His ways (Judges 2:10-19). Judges 3 starts with this yo-yo relationship with God and it continues throughout the entire book. How would you feel if you were a faithful Jew but saw your nation falling away from God?
Even when Elijah thought he was the only #faithful Jew who believed and followed God, the Lord told him that there was always a faithful remnant of believers in Israel (1st Kings 19:13-18).
In the 2nd example, Israel wanted a king to lead them instead of Judges. God warned them of what would happen if they went with a king, but they wanted to be like the other nations around them. It’s interesting to note that the other nations were pagan nations that had many abominable practices, like child sacrifice and temple prostitutes. God realized they were rejecting Him (1st Samuel 8:7). He warned them of what a king could do in 1st Samuel 8:1-18. But the people still wanted a king, so God gave them what they wanted. Sure enough, it turned out to be disastrous for Israel. There were some good kings but most were bad. And the bad ones did terrible harm to Israel as a nation. Pagan gods were introduced, child sacrifice and temple prostitutes and many other #abominable practices eventually followed. America is much like ancient Israel. We have the power to determine what kind of President and government that we want. God allows us to choose this but we will suffer the #consequences if we choose wrongly.
But there were still faithful believers in Israel. What did they do when all of this happened? I’m sure they got depressed when yet another ungodly king took the throne. But they remained faithful to God. They went about their normal lives with a godly passion. They never stopped living and believing in God.
Like Abraham, they looked ahead to the future heaven (Hebrews 11:10, 16), knowing that this temporary suffering would be worth it in eternity (Hebrews 11:26, 1st Peter 1:3-7 & Revelation 22:12).
This should be the attitude of all believers in Jesus. Yes, it’s not easy living in a fallen world. And yes, sometimes we do go thru periods of # ‘lamenting’. There’s even a book in the Old Testament called “Lamentations”. But we don’t live there. Lamenting is only temporary. When a great nation like America starts on a downward yo-yo moral slide, we all should be concerned. But we should all remember 2nd Chronicles 7:14. No matter what happens, we should keep our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-3). Like the ancient, faithful remnant in Israel, we should keep doing what God has gifted us to do, knowing that in eternity, it will all be worth it.
What has God called you to do? What spiritual gifts has He equipped you with to carry out your calling? We should always vote our #godly values and continue to do what He has called us to do, knowing that it will make a difference in eternity. Will we be faithful to God to keep on doing what He has called us to do?
In Christ,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com
