Election Day in Perspective

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” ESV Acts 17:26-27

As I write this article on Monday evening, the world is anxiously awaiting Election Day 2008 in the United States. Who will be our next President? How will the House or Representatives and the Senate be changed? What will the election mean for our economy?

Yet as you read this on Wednesday, the anticipation is gone. The votes have been cast and counted. What lies ahead now is most likely either a sense of dread or a sense of gleeful expectation; depending on how you voted. But let me offer an alternative perspective for you.

Ken Askew

Rather than face tomorrow with a sense of dread because your candidate did not win or gleeful expectation because he did, let me encourage you to face tomorrow humbly, prayerfully and confident in God.

In perhaps his greatest recorded sermon, Paul points out to the Athenians that God created all mankind. Every man, woman, and child ever to grace the earth is a descendent of Adam. And from Adam, God has caused every nation upon the earth to exist. So like it or not, Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin are all a little more closely related than you might have cared to imagine!

And far from being inactive and passive in the livelihood of nations, Paul points out that it is God who determines their allotted times, their boundaries, and their dwelling place on the earth. Theologians have a name for this activity of God in our lives; they call it providence.

It’s God’s providence that causes me to have hope for our future. While God exercises His providence in a manner that does not offend my sense of choice, relieve me of moral responsibility, or remove the consequences of my actions, He also really does ‘have the whole world in his hands,’ and that my friend is why I can face tomorrow with confidence. But why would God desire to be active in our lives? He certainly doesn’t need anything the world has to offer.

I a convinced that God’s activity in our lives is ultimately for His own glory. Paul told the Athenians that God’s activity is designed to cause us to seek after Him. Yet while we seek Him, as if we were groping in the dark, God is very near to each of us. As a matter of fact, He’s so close we can touch Him through something amazingly simple; prayer.

So, let me encourage you to confidently look towards the future by humbly seeking God today through payer. Thank Him for loving us enough to be active in our lives. Beg his forgiveness for the times and seasons we’ve ignored him individually and as a nation. And finally, ask Him to guide our newly elected President and other leaders so that He might be glorified.