POLITICAL PANORAMA

I Was Just Thinking About - - - 

Tonight there will be an opportunity of witnessing an array of Republican aspirants seeking the office of President of the United States. The first televised debate will be on most of the evening. Seventeen prospective candidates (16 men and 1 woman) will try to impress the viewing public of their unique abilities and purpose for wanting to be elected to this lofty position. There are  those who have been or are now Governors, Senators, Business People and Medical Doctor sharing points of view that can impact the future of the citizenry and nation. From a religious point of view, those with a credible Biblical expression of their personal faith are negligible. It will be a political panorama - but - will it really matter?

From a Biblical point of view, the people who were identified as the Lord’s people experienced adversity, persecution, hardship and captivity. As a matter of fact, much of The Word of God was inspired to include that all generations were subjected to some form of hostility used by the Lord as a corrective measure for His people’s indifference and failure to follow Him and His ways. It is easy to hear Doomsday Scenarios from pulpits across America. Every generation in my lifetime has heard these same prophecies as being more immediate than not. 

When Jesus Christ was pressed into offering a response about the last days, his statement included: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:4-14, NIV). Jesus was speaking of the intensity and disruption within the culture and world in the future. He goes on to add these purposeful and encouraging words: “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22).

What is a safe and wise way for the Biblical Christian to think about the times in which we are living? Habakkuk was a prophet of the Lord who poured out his burden in prayer. He asked questions of the Lord: “Oh Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” and You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises.Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds” (Habakkuk 1:2-4, NKJV). The Lord responds differently than Habakkuk was expecting, when He said: “Look among the nations and watch; be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs” (Habakkuk 1:5-6). 

As this dialogue between Habakkuk and the Lord continues, Habakkuk arrives at the only sane conclusion for his and our day: “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills” (Habakkuk 3:17-19). Is your confidence in people holding political office or in the Sovereign God who governs all things in accordance with His will? Consider these things with me.