Republished from the presidential election in 2008…
Republished from the presidential election in 2012…
Republished from the presidential election in 2016…
Republished for the presidential election in 2020…
God is not depressed on election night because His candidate did not win. HIS CANDIDATE ALWAYS WINS!
I have never been much of a politics guy. For some reason, I have always been content to follow from a distance. I like to know enough about what is going on so as not to be embarrassed out and about. Maybe it sources back to my getting elected to student council my sophomore year in high school but not getting elected my junior year. Neither time did I really run but both times it left me pondering, “is this how people really feel about me”? Maybe I am just a people pleaser at heart or maybe just thin-skinned. I would never make it in public office. To be in democratic politics you have to be willing to have half the people disapprove of you and be jazzed that half the people agree with you (well at least 51%). Talk about looking at the cup half full!
In this political season, there are a lot of people who will vote for folks who will win (yeah!) but there are a lot of people who will vote for people who will lose (boo!). Is it God’s will that the guy (or gal) that I vote for not get elected? As a person of faith am I voting outside of the sovereign will of God if I back a loser? A few years ago, a friend of mine was convinced that God would have him run for school board in his town and he lost. Did he really hear God or was he just making a political run that came up short? Maybe the people in his town voted God’s will down.
Whether it is right or wrong, I view politics much like I view eschatology (the studies of end times), I am what they call a pan-alinialist. In the end it will all pan out just the way God has planned. Call me a fatalist, or maybe a better description – a sovereigntist or maybe just a jelly fish. But, I really think that God works it out to accomplish His will. Check out my favorite passage in the Bible about politics:
Romans 13
1 Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil. 5 Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
I have a hard time getting around vs 1. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Note it does not say that only leaders that hold my position are from God. But God establishes all authorities that exist. Now am I saying that all leaders are godly, by no means. But, all authorities are set up by God and He is surprised by none of it. He is not depressed on election night because His candidate did not win. HIS CANDIDATE ALWAYS WINS! I just think He is up to more than we can see. He is the One Who judges nations. He is the One Who weighs eras of time on a scale of His righteousness. What He accomplishes over time is much bigger than whether my candidate or political position is exalted. Is it God’s will that the guy I voted for didn’t get elected: YOU BET YOUR BOOTS IT IS!
By the way I did vote and I hope some of my guys win!
Life and times of the howitzers 
Tim,
Thanks for publishing your first annual E-Book collection (http://thehowitzerrants.com/wordpress/?p=848).
I started following your blog this past Summer and hadn’t read your earlier posts. This November 2008 post in your collection spoke some good wisdom to me this morning.
For me the word is “sovereign”. The Random House Dictionary defines this as “having supreme rank, power, or authority; supreme; preeminent; indisputable; being above all others…”
I interpret a “Sovereign God” as “God’s gonna do what God’s gonna do.” He is God. I shouldn’t expect anything more or less of Him. He gives me instruction for my benefit and warning for my protection. However, God is not a vending machine doling out reward or discipline in accordance with my deeds. He created me and everyone and everything with a thought. Likewise, in a thought we could all be gone. It’s all His choice. And, what should amaze every one of us and bring us to our knees in awe and eternal gratitude and unfailing worship is that He chose us. The very reason that I get to sit here contemplating such things is that He breathed life into me.
While it’s not for me to question why God does things, I am finding more and more that God is teaching and changing me through such things. For example, the more I serve others in an effort to effect “changed lives” the more I find myself being the one changed.
God wants to change “us” as much as He does “others”. Similarly, maybe God is as interested in how we react, submit, and support the leadership He places over us as He is in how that leadership governs us.
Brad
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