By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
One of the biggest tragedies in the Biblical story begins with a nation’s simple desire to be ruled by a strong, charismatic political leader.
“They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them,” the Lord told the prophet Samuel after the people begged for a sovereign human ruler. “Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
Samuel proceeds to paint a strikingly clear portrait of what the proceeding generations of kings will actually be like: harsh, overbearing, greedy and selfish. Bastions of seemingly unchecked immorality. But the people refused to listen, demanding a king so that “we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
With a great promise to offer, the people chose instead to become like everyone else. The following millennia bore out exactly what Samuel promised would happen: those given an excess of power used it to abuse the weak and powerless.
Never mind that God, the ultimate fount of morality, had already promised to judge, protect and fight for the people. They didn’t want a perfectly moral being. They wanted a flawed, human figurehead to cast their affections upon, put their faith in and literally live and die by. One who reflected their own failures and never called them higher, even at the expense of their own well-being. The people didn’t want a righteous God who shows mercy to His enemies; they wanted a selfish ruler who would celebrate his own coalition and isolate the others.
In other words: they wanted anyone other than YHWH on the throne.
The same rings true today, with a seemingly endless stream of candidates lobbing increasingly inflammatory, hateful rhetoric across the aisle. Christians are caught in the middle. And yet again, as they have for millennium, the people of God across the world are faced with the prospect of living under selfish, flawed, leaders who are — quite obviously — merely human.
There are plenty of possible Christian responses to an election gone awry. They’re the exact same choices that follow an election gone “well.” And sitting alone, anxious about tomorrow, is not among them.
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them,” Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. “Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
Jesus summarizes his teachings with a simple call to reject a culture of fear and anxiety, which also calls every inconvenience unconscionable and every mistake a grave error. A life tossed about by every wave of culture, social media and the 24-hour news cycle misses out on the core Biblical message: a deep, confident assurance in the things unseen.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” the author of Hebrews writes. “Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets — who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”
The Book of Hebrews goes on to list scores of saints who were mocked, flogged, chained, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, killed with swords, destitute, afflicted and mistreated, all for the sake of a hope not yet seen. All because they knew deep down — whether the culture around them wanted to admit it or not — that God was still on the throne.
Fortunately, neither presidential candidate campaigned on sawing Christians in two. But as popular political discourse becomes increasingly secular, a growing tension emerges. How must we, as Christians, respond? Shall the painful political rhetoric of our rivals stir up fear and anger? Can abhorrent speech justify a temporary rejection of the Fruits of the Spirit?
Scripture’s answer, time and again, is just the opposite: “Be anxious for nothing.” The mantra sounds almost too simple and too good to be true. And yet, somehow, it isn’t.
“Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself,” Jesus says in Matthew 6:34. “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Donald Trump is soon to be sworn in again as president of the U.S. That decision by the electorate may have temporary repercussions in gas prices, immigration or international affairs. But for Christians, who are citizens of another kingdom, the ultimate government has not changed. “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood,” the Psalmist writes. “The Lord sits enthroned as king forever.”
That assurance in the things unseen allows us to breathe deeply. To trust that, whether the next four years bring harvest or famine, sunshine or rain, God is still on the throne. He always has been and always will be. And every time we find anxiety prowling in the corner, we can return to that promise. We can rest in God’s faithfulness to always follow through.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice,” the apostle and political prisoner Paul writes while in chains for the Gospel. “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
