If you’ve been following the presidential election or just have a social media account of any sort then you have probably heard that we now have a President Donald Trump on American history books. The reactions on my news feed have been mixed so far- some are agitated, others funny, while others hopeless.
I’m not going to pretend that I know a thing about politics. I have a lot of relatives who are politicians, but I don’t have the slightest clue what a Democrat or Republican is or how to pass laws or what qualifies as a good one (apart from my own limited biases). But two things are clear to me when it comes to politics:
- There will always be a group unhappy with any political leader or decision. It just seems like you can’t please everyone when it comes to public service.
- No matter who’s in charge, something bad will always come out of someone’s leadership. No one just has it all.
The only politics book I’ve ever gotten my hands on is the Bible. Yes, the Bible has a thing or two about politics. By some weird coincidence, I’ve been going across the books of Kings and Chronicles the past few months reading on the earthly kings who ruled Israel and Judah. Out of all the forty plus kings who ruled, one thing was clear- all of them screwed up at one point. Even the righteous king David had a few major blunders that cost the innocent lives of others.
And it all references back to the beginning of Israel’s human monarchy when they demanded for a king. 1 Samuel 8:6 says this: “But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’”
What made Israel’s demand for a leader so displeasing? It wasn’t that they wanted a king they never had because they had God as king, but they looked at the other nations and saw human leaders and they coveted them. They weren’t asking God to put the first king ever. They were looking to replace God with a human leader. In essence they were saying, “God, we want someone else as a leader. We’re impeaching you.”
Don’t get me wrong. I believe in human leaders. I follow them and I’m inspired by many leaders, but I’m no different from the Israelites in that I can often substitute God with other leaders. If it’s not a person, it can even be an object- money, possessions, technology, or even my ministry.
This is really the foreground for one of the most popular scriptures when it comes to looking for national revival found in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “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.”
Note that nowhere in the scripture do we see an element of human leadership. Why? As great as human leaders are, they are not the answer to national or even global crisis. The only person who can heal our land is God.
I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope that even if my political preference does not get elected, God is still in control and He is still eager to heal our land. This doesn’t just apply to Americans today. The same is true for our nation the Philippines. I was for Miriam Santiago, and when our president Duterte won, I moved on knowing that even if He does the worst to this country, He’s not more powerful than my true monarch- Jesus Christ.
I won’t pretend that I’m not scared and I won’t pretend that I’m not thankful for our government leaders. There are days where I get a little of both. However, I am challenged by the call God gives me- and consequently all of us today- in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to “humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.” Because only then will God, who is the only one capable of bringing national and global revival, will heal our land.
Is your trust now put in the leaders of this world and who’s doing what, or do we step back to see that there is a call for us to respond to the one true leader of the entire universe and respond to His victorious work two thousand years ago? I challenge you to really dig down deep in your hearts to answer that question.
