I write this, and my title, while we as a nation are in the middle of a bitterly contested election. It seems to many of us that a whole lot of chicanery is going on, or more accurately fraud and outright theft of a presidential election. We have lived through four years of a terribly dishonest and partisan media that has tried to destroy the President of the United States, with what everyone knows are lies heaped upon lies. Does what’s going on now surprise us? It is shocking in it’s brazenness, but not at all surprising. We trust that eventually the truth will win out, but that is a great challenge when an entire political party doesn’t even believe there is such a thing as truth. Form them, postmodern to the core, there is “the narrative,” and that is only what furthers their political power. If they “win” this time without transparency, without evidence that the apparent fraud is not in fact fraud, it will be very bad for this country, and people of any political party.
But I don’t write this to argue what I believe to be the case, but to argue that in one way it doesn’t really matter. Don’t get me wrong. It does matter, very much, but as Christians we understand there is a considerably bigger picture, bigger beyond our comprehension. We know, for instance, as the Apostle Paul says:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
This dark world is the world in which we live, so it should never surprise us when dark things happen. We should, as I’ve taught my kids all their lives, fight against the fall, against the gravitational pull of sin that weighs on everything, but we understand as the saying goes, stuff happens.
We also know that God is in providential control of all things, not some things or most things, but all things. The hubris of man may appear for a time to win the day, but that’s all it can ever win, a day. The transience of life will make sure of it. This is a good time to read the book of Daniel, where God’s sovereign, providential rule over all the kingdoms of men is the main theme. When the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, he carried away all the treasures and the best people of Judea, including Daniel. The king had a dream which Daniel interpreted, and in praise to God for this he declares:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
Later the king declares in his hubris that he is the one responsible for his greatness, and wealth, and power. This is all taken from him, and he’s told by God, “until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.” When he is restored to power, he praises God and acknowledges, that God “does as he pleases with the powers of heaven, and the peoples of the earth.” When Daniel is telling the king’s son and new king the story about his father, he tells him his father would not regain his power “until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.”
Let us never forget who is in control over all nations and kingdoms, including ours. We don’t get depressed or despondent because we know this is true, just as we know that God became a man, submitted himself to death on a cross for us, then rose from the dead, as eyewitnesses declared, many of them unto their own deaths. Speaking of the incomparably great power available to us who trust in him, Paul declares:
That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Yes we fight, but because this is true we fight as happy warriors who know the final outcome, regardless of what appears to be the case today, or tomorrow, or the next. The joy of the Lord is our strength!
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