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Many millions of words have already been written and spoken about the US midterm elections. I have certainly thought deeply about it and have already done a couple of radio interviews on it, looking at the obvious political, social, ideological and cultural aspects.

Instead of speaking more about those sorts of matters, I here offer just some biblical, spiritual and theological bits of commentary on this election result — and other results like it. Various considerations come to mind, which I present here in somewhat random order.

Crying Out to God for America

When one recalls what was deliberately, carefully, prayerfully and even providentially thought through, proposed and announced 250 years ago in America, and considers where the country is at now, one can only cry out to Almighty God and plead, “Lord please, have mercy on America.” That is something I have just done — you might want to do it as well.

Every time some loss like this happens that gets conservatives and Christians so perturbed and downhearted, there is always heard comments like this (at least in America): ‘That’s it, God has abandoned America.’ ‘God’s judgment is now on America.’ ‘America is finished,’ and so on.

Well, that is always possible, but we cannot know for sure. We do not have the same inspired prophetic word available to us as was found in the Old Testament. Perhaps the US has reached the point of no return, but God is always able to make dead men live, or to turn nations around.

Having said that, one must not be glib here, nor offer false hope to people. God does indeed judge nations, and he alone knows when the gig is up. In this regard, something I have shared often before by R. C. Sproul is well worth running with once again:

“We hear all the time about God’s infinite grace and mercy. I cringe when I hear it. God’s mercy is infinite insofar as it is mercy bestowed upon us by a Being who is infinite, but when the term infinite is used to describe his mercy rather than his person, I have problems with it because the Bible makes very clear that there is a limit to God’s mercy. There is a limit to his grace, and he is determined not to pour out his mercy on impenitent people forever. There is a time, as the Old Testament repeatedly reports, particularly in the book of the prophet Jeremiah, that God stops being gracious with people, and he gives them over to their sin.”

If this election result IS part of divine judgment on a sinful and rebellious nation, it is 100 per cent deserved. The real wonder is that God has not long ago given America a Sodom and Gomorrah treatment. All the sins one can imagine are found there, as in all Western nations. All Ten Commandments have been broken billions of times by millions of people. Simply looking at the diabolical war on life, family and sexuality, we stand fully guilty and condemned, and we deserve divine retribution.

The thoughtful Christian will always wonder about God’s just judgment. Are there no righteous and godly Americans left? Surely there are, but if God is judging this nation — and others like it — that does not necessarily mean that they get off the hook.

Recall God’s dealing with his own chosen people. When Israel went into exile as part of God’s punishment on their sin, idolatry and rebellion, pious Jews were included. Even some of the godly prophets were taken away into captivity. So there is no guarantee godly folks today will necessarily escape such a fate.

If we had all the answers as to what God is up to in the world, we would have little need for faith. But we do not have such clarity, so learning how to really trust God, even when it seems as though he has turned his back on us, is essential.

We need the trust and commitment of Job when he said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). And we need the faith of Habakkuk when he said in Habakkuk 3:17-18:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

And we need the tonic that is found in Psalm 42:11:

“Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.”

Faith above Politics and the Midterm Elections

While we must put our ultimate faith, hope and trust in God alone, that does not mean for one moment that we can just ignore the world that we live in — and that includes the world of politics. We are called to make an impact in all areas of life. Christians might want to ignore politics, but it will not ignore them.

Being involved in politics means being involved in mundane but important things like elections. As Josh Howerton put it recently:

“If Godly people don’t step forward to influence the trajectory of the nation, godless people will and are.”

Or as was said by the Center for Baptist Leadership:

“If Christians don’t vote, non-Christians will. If Christians don’t vote, Muslims will. If Christians don’t vote, Communists will. If Christians don’t vote, Socialists will. If Christians don’t vote, abortion voters will. If Christians don’t vote, LGBT voters will. If Christians don’t vote, it doesn’t make us more holy — it just takes Christ out of the voting booth.”

Knowing that we have biblical responsibilities in the here and now for this world does not mean we put all our trust in politics or elections or parties or politicians. We put our full trust in Christ alone. But he expects us to let our light shine in a dark world, and to stand up for righteousness in an unrighteous world.

Rulers, nations, governments and kingdoms will all come and go. Only Christ abides forever. So we must not lose heart nor give way to despair. Yes, by all means, work and pray for what is right, and that includes working and praying for a righteous nation and godly government. But remember that there is only one everlasting kingdom.

Our ultimate weapons here are spiritual, since our ultimate battles are spiritual, and our ultimate foe is spiritual. So we must pray unceasingly, engage in the spiritual battles, and oppose the work of the devil. We must be filled with the Spirit to have an impact in all this.

Even if God is bringing judgment on our land, there are things we can and must do. We believers can get on our faces before the living God and cry out to him in repentance and seek his forgiveness. Judgment first begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17).

While reformation is the need of the hour, so too is revival. We need to ask our merciful heavenly Father to bless our lands again with heaven-sent revival. Without it we are toast. And the old biblical guidelines for this remain true:

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

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Republished with thanks to CultureWatch. Image via Wikimedia Commons.