The Election and the Direction

 When I was in the process of publishing my last post, the election was in progress.  I was hoping for some change. I did not expect the spectacular results that became clear to us all “by the dawn’s early light.” I imagine that most of my Republican friends were dancing in the aisles that next day.  I find myself, admittedly a political conservative, to be pleased as well, yet much less jubilant.

The problem is; we’ve had a political change by election. What we need is a change of spiritual direction.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, I view myself as an optimist. I have pointed out as well that Christians have the best of all reasons to be optimistic. Yet I find myself skeptical about the future. A politically “conservative” government is just that, and while I welcome the idea that government will be, hopefully, less oppressive than it has grown to be in the last six years, I am less hopeful about the future for the following reasons:

·         We still have a moral crisis in our country. We are still guided by the same introspective, self-centered moral perspective that has led us to the moral dilemma in which we currently find ourselves.

·         We are still 17 trillion dollars in debt, and inching closer to 18 trillion every day, rather than moving further away. I have a friend who thinks that now that we will have a more fiscally responsible government that we will be in the black by the time the next election rolls around. This is simply not numerically possible.  I read yet another popular author recently who said that it is simply too late to reverse the inevitable results of our reckless fiscal policies of the last several years.

·         We still have the threat of an Ebola epidemic waiting just beyond our shores.

·         Islamic militants still threaten our security in the Middle East and beyond.

I doubt that these things are going to disappear with the new congress.  I also sense that the electorate is becoming increasingly impatient with their governmental officials as they are seeking and failing to find governmental solutions for a better life.

I do see two things that the results of this election do demonstrate to us:

First, it is a message from the people that they are disappointed in a congress that has courted their votes in the past with promises of a better country and a better life, but has then gone to Washington and has produced the opposite result that they said they would.

Second, I believe that the electorate is becoming increasingly as frightened as I am about a dictatorial (albeit well-meaning) President who is willing to bypass Congress, the people, and even the Constitution itself to achieve his political and philosophical ends.

While I do not necessarily see this election as an answer to prayer, I see the hand of God in this and all events in human history.  

I have to confess that I don’t know much in particular about many of the newly elected legislators in regard to their faith. One exception to this is congresswoman-elect Joni Ernst of Iowa. My friends, Dr. Bill and Ali Artherholt (CRM Chaplain at Alamo Rec-Veh Resort) lived in the same home town as Rep. Ernst, and are well acquainted with her and her family. Bill and Ali have reported to me that she is a committed Christian believer. I believe that the influence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individual legislators is the only hope for our nation’s future.

I was moved this morning as I read two passages from Jeremiah that I believe speak to our nation’s situation:

And you have brought this upon yourselves by rebelling against the Lord your God, even though he was leading you on the way!             Jeremiah 2: 17 (NLT)

And then, in the story about Jeremiah’s visit to the Potter:

 Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.       Jeremiah 18: 5-10 (NLT)

The only hope for our nation is that we change our direction and move toward, and walk with our Lord Jesus Christ!

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.