I could never have imagined a few days ago that Donald John Trump would be president-elect of our country. I understand the arguments in favor of him, and I think that while it may be cathartic for liberals to believe that any Trump supporter is perforce a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, crypto-Fascist, there are real fissures in this country and deeply-felt estrangement in middle America and the Rust Belt that Trump both exposed (and, let's be honest, exploited). Indeed, part of the problem with last night is just the type of fracturing displayed on my Facebook wall in the past 24 hours. We no longer merely disagree with each other; the other is evil and motivated by nefarious intentions. We alone are pure. I hope that cools off over time and this morning I began my day by praying for Trump. That God would break him and drive him to repentance. That he would surround himself with and heed the word of wise counselors. That the gravity of his office would humble him.
But I want to offer a word that applies no matter what happens in the next four years. It is, fittingly, from Scripture. Here, without abridgment, is Psalm 146:
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous;
The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!
I bolded the verse I find the most pertinent now. And, as I said, this is true whether your guy or the other guy is in office. We, as followers of the one true God, are not to place our trust in the worldly powers. Every president, governor, congressman, senator, mayor, and city councilor will be a footnote in the history of the new earth governed by King Jesus. Every worldly ruler will fail. There is much wisdom in acknowledging that. It helps us to avoid a spurious utopianism in the church.
But the rest of the psalm is important, too. For in God's work in the world we see the church's mission in the world. If God executes justice for the oppressed, so should we. If God gives food to the hungry, so should we. If God sets prisoners free, so should we. If God opens the eyes of the blind, so should we. If God lifts up those who are bowed down, so should we. If God loves the righteous, so should we. If God watches over the sojourners, so should we. If God upholds the widow and the fatherless, so should we. If God will bring the way of the wicked to ruin, we should long for that day. As we long for his forever rule.
When the church unites itself to political rule and puts our hope in princes to do our bidding we lose sight of this mission. We become more concerned with minimum wage laws than with feeding the hungry. We become more concerned with "protecting" ourselves from people unlike us, rather than caring for the sojourners among us. When we unite ourselves to someone who preaches fear of other races and religions, we forget that it is God who reigns forever and over all and will one day bring all wickedness to justice.
One of the perennial temptations of Christianity is to want the kingdom without the King. On the wall of my classroom I have a poster of Gustave Dore's illustration of Christ being tempted by Satan with the kingdoms of the world. The careful reader will remember that he spurns this temptation. He says, in words it bears committing to memory, "You shall worship the LORD your God, and him only shall you serve." It saddens me that his church seems eager to claim that throne he rejected. May we learn to await our true King and trust only in Him.
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