From the Reds to the Blues

    I was disappointed with the outcome of the recent election, of course.  I live in a little bastion of conservatism, most local radio talk shows are channeled to the right wing, the worst accusation in the campaign attack ads was--my opponent voted with Obama.  It gives us a skewed view of the national political climate, not as skewed as CNN, but skewed nonetheless. So I was sad Tuesday night, but not as sad as I was when "Billary" got elected for a second term.  We were studying the kings of Israel in BSF that year and I thought we had willingly reinstated Ahab and Jezebel.  The consolation was that they couldn't rule for decades like Israel's rotten kings.
     But I have learned something in the intervening years that helped me make it through election night, God is sovereign in the affairs of men.  He can use a leader who denies and detests him to work out his purpose just as well as one who loves and obeys him.  In fact, often God goes out of his way to choose an unbeliever to accomplish his will.  Pharoah's oppression didn't stop the Exodus.  Haman's plot to wipe out the Jews not only wiped out Haman, but many of their other enemies.  But my favorite example is Cyrus.  Cyrus was uniquely prophesied by name in Isaiah as one who would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  I don't think his name was written in scripture centuries in advance to convince Cyrus, he was an inclusive individual who liked to appease his subjects' god preferences. I think it was written to convince the Jews. I'm sure they were thinking, yes we want to build the temple, but why not choose some nice Jewish boy to lead us instead of this heathen?  For us it would be the equivalent of having a national Christian heritage day declared by Barak Obama.
     Yes, it is a great blessing to have godly leaders, but God is not the least bit frustrated by ungodly ones.  We are, but he is not. The Bible will not be found in the humor section of a bookstore, although there are some funny stories in it, but it does say that God laughs at our puny human plots against him. When God watches the schemes of our world's rebellious rulers, it is not only a reality show, but a sitcom. God thanks us for our cooperation in doing his will, but he does not need it.
     We are called to be people of hope.  I found hope in the record number of people who came out to vote, Americans are, at last, aware that our way of life is at stake.  I found hope that, after all the years of Republican leaders trying to impersonate Democrats, they are returning to their historic distinctives.  But mostly I found hope in the truth that no matter who is president, God is king.  All world leaders will give account to the king. And when those accounts are read, they will be the ones who are blue.