Trust In God, Not In Man (Or Elections)

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.’ (Psalm 118:8); ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.’ (Psalm 20:7)

OK, I will attempt to refrain from anything political in today’s blog, so…er, well, awhile back I came across an article from one of the most trusted and accurate news sources in Post-Constitutional America today, the Babylon Bee.  Even though the Babylon Bee is supposed to be a satirical site, it is satire that always has a bit of truth in it.  The article was entitled ‘Disappointed Christian Republicans Briefing Consider Placing Trust In God Again’; which in a synopsis provides that, perhaps half-jokingly, that there are conservatives who claim to be ‘all in’ for God, at least until elections roll around.

Then their Faith in God is replaced with ‘faith’ that an election will completely remove all ills of our society, that the right men will come in and start cleaning house, taking names, and fixing things to ‘Make America Great Again’.  Before any of our Democratic Party friends believe that only conservatives fall into this trap, many in the liberal camp fall into this as well; the article could have ‘Christian Republicans’ replaced with ‘Christian Democrats’ and ‘Make America Great Again’ replaced with ‘Build Back Better’ and it would still be an accurate satirical depiction. 

We need to place our Faith in what God has in store with His plans.  Election results do not surprise Him, nor will He react by moving His plans around the results that occur and will not change His plans if the results were different.  Whether things do occur or not may be influenced by who is in office or what party is in control, but regardless who is in charge of our governments, God is in control and His will is paramount above and beyond anything our political leaders can do.  There are likely folks who are disappointed in the results, as there are people who are pleased with them, but it makes no difference to God or His precepts. 

Is it OK for us to be disappointed or pleased?  In the proper perspective, yes. Christians rightfully rejoiced over the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court that overruled Roe vs. Wade; Christians then become disappointed when there are states reinstituting pro-abortion measures.  We can have feelings, and express them to a degree over political actions and results; these feelings should never replace the facts God has in place.

Trust is something we humans fail in all the time, whether it is the trust we place in others (including God) or the trust others (including God) place upon us. The Israelites failed to trust God to lead them, and demanding to be led by a king, which led to Saul.  He failed and thus led to David assuming the throne, and he, too, in several aspects failed as king of Israel. Fast forward 3,000 or so years, and we find in the US that we have not gone too far further in the matter, either.  All humans, in varying degrees, cannot be trusted.  There are people who I would (and do) trust with certain aspects or levels. 

Personally, I would trust me for keeping secrets (it’s been part of my job for my entire adulthood), being a good husband, being prepared for lessons; I wouldn’t trust me to be in charge of guarding chocolate or bacon as they would likely be devoured given enough (i.e., very short) period of time.  Before you get pious, there are likely certain things that you may not be able to resist, either.  So why do we think a person is going to 100% be the person they say they are when they run for office?  Why do we think the Government is going to change just because the political parties switch seats? 

We often trust what we see and what we are familiar with; the car that has started and ran every time we turned the ignition key, the alarm clock that has gone off every morning to get us up to go to work on time.  But like the people who we trust (and then they break that trust), objects are finite and mortal.  Made by man, they like man break down, perhaps to wear and tear or the battery dies or it simply runs out of gas.  We have to usually do some level of upkeep to keep things going but eventually even that is not enough – for man or machine. 

Only one person that we can always – and should – depend upon 100% of time with 100% reliability without any changes – Jesus!  The One who is always been there, is there, and will be there is the one constant and consistent in our lives.