Tomorrow is an extremely important day for our nation in which we will elect our next president. No, I am not here to yell at you to pick one candidate or the other. I am here to give you something that I hope will bring you peace in the midst of these tumultuous days.
Dear friends, no political leader is going to save this world from rights or wrongs. Sure, some might make changes at the expense of other things. But they are not going to be able to solve all of America's problems. No one could, even if they were in office for more than four years.
The reason for this?
A political leader is not our savior. Yes, they are necessary and God allows people into leadership for purposes beyond what we mortals can tell. Sometimes He even lets the person we don’t want to be in charge to be in charge.
Take Joseph for example.
Sold into slavery, taken to Egypt, accused wrongly, then imprisoned, Life was certainly not going well for the young Israelite. Even after he was brought out of prison he had to serve the pagan Pharaoh of Egypt. But God used this foreign ruler to put Joseph in a place of authority and ultimately save Israel from a famine.
Another example came in Nehemiah’s time.
The Babylonian kings had taken the land, exiled the people, and Nehemiah had a precarious job as the royal food taster for the king. But down the road, when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild his beloved city, it was by the help of the pagan ruler he had served that the project was finished.
Who is in power in our country is unmistakably important. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that, no matter who ends up in charge or how we feel about them, God’s not hanging back just watching all this happen. He knows the plans He has for us, but also for our country. And He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.
The most dangerous thing we can do tomorrow is yell and scream as if our candidate were the savior. Throughout history, when countries became divided over something like a political party, bad things happened.
In the Disney movie, Zootopia, predators and prey lived in harmony… until something happened to show the public just how dangerous predators could be. Throughout the latter half of the film, the protagonist, Judy Hopps, is fighting not just the villain but the suddenly pent up prejudice of prey and predator built on fear and anger. She even managed to ruin her friendship with a brilliant fox named Nick in the process. While you may see it as a kid’s movie, I see it as a reminder that if we divide over candidates, parties or anything else until we are unable to see beyond our own opinions, we cannot stand.
Our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln, once said: “Divided we fall, united we stand.”
Whatever happens tomorrow, we need to look at what is truly important here: the needs of our people and the security of not just our land, but the lands we protect. Not only that, but we need to be willing enough to put aside every detail to be kind to our opponents, even if we don’t agree with them.
I’d like to end this post with a call to prayer tomorrow. Not for a particular candidate to win, but for there to be no deceit and that God’s plans for America will be carried out. And if you haven’t decided to already, get out and vote! You wouldn’t believe the effect one person’s vote can have on something. Until next week, Ad Lucem.
-L.E. Levens
Amen! Thanks for this good reminder! ❤️