My phone rang this morning, and a relative was calling to express dismay about the election results last night. She said, “I’m calling you because I just need some encouragement. I woke up this morning and I said, ‘God, WHY? This man who has been elected is everything You hate. It just feels like evil is winning!’ My husband and I woke up this morning side by side feeling like deflated Pac-Men. My faith has been shaken!” And the conversation continued.
On the other hand, other brothers and sisters in Christ are saying, “Whoop! Whoop!” and rejoicing with great exuberance, praising God for the outcome. Celebrating that “evil” didn’t triumph!
If your candidate won last night, don’t gloat. If your candidate lost, don’t despair. God did not endorse or reject any man-made agenda through last night’s outcome. He did not choose sides. He permitted this result to further His own agenda and purposes. And we can be certain that they are far beyond the narrow limits of what either political party has in mind.
Remember when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.” (Joshua 5:13.)
Consider the Lord’s words from Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.”
Even Jesus Himself recognized that God’s plans were beyond His total grasp, for He prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” In other words, “Father, I humbly yield to YOUR agenda.”
There is something much bigger going on than who occupies the White House and who controls Congress. Something much higher than the “issues” that drove the choice of our vote. There are marvelous things God intends to do in each of us, through each of us, and for each of us—whether or not this was our desired outcome. Things that will fulfill His greater purposes for us, for our country, and for the world. What we will become as individuals and as a nation because of this election remains to be seen. Hope in God, not in appearances, for we walk by faith and not by sight.
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