Kevin’s Conversations: God Is Still On The Throne
As I finish writing this, the election is taking place and the next president of the United States is being chosen. As you are reading this, the final results of that choice are likely already known. I say “likely” because, one, we have already experienced the hanging chads, and two, considering the two main candidates in this election, who knows what kind of craziness may be taking place after the fact.
However, despite all the uncertainty that has led up to the election, potentially took place in the election, and is prominently on display for the future in the aftermath of this election, this one thing I do know with no hint of uncertainty whatsoever: God is still on the throne.
Our preferred candidate may not have won. God is still on the throne.
The candidate that we’re so sure is going to bring catastrophe has won. God is still on the throne.
The belief that neither candidate is any good for our country has come to the climax and now one of them will be taking the highest office in our country. God is still on the throne.
Christians have fought among themselves and in some ways have made quite a bad name for themselves and the One for whom they are named, in the lead up to this election. God is still on the throne.
We have heard the words of many wise people reminding us of this fact. Many who communicate it much more effectively and richly and eloquently than can I. Lets hold onto their venerable reminders.
You and I cannot change the outcome of the election. No matter how hard we try, the impact we can have on the future of this country as a whole is likely minimal. But we serve a God whose impact can be far greater than anything we can imagine.
We serve a King who is completely faithful and trustworthy. And He loves the people of his kingdom with a perfect love. A love so deep and so great that we are incapable of fully comprehending. A love that was manifested at the cross in the excruciating death of His own Son who bore the burden of the sins of the world. A burden so great that we also are not able to fully comprehend.
No president will ever do this for us. No president can. But our King can and has.
We may not understand some things God has come to pass. We may never understand them this side of heaven. But we know His ways are perfectly good. And a day will come when He sets all things right in finality.
God is still on the throne. Always has been and always will. We are His children. Let us live in those truths.
“15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:15-31
A good word and reminder Kevin. I perused some of the Progressive Christian blogs and you would think that the sky is falling and God is no longer in control.
Of course…
The EXACT same thing could have been said if Hillary had won in regards to conservative Christians. And the same thing DID happen when Obama and Bill Clinton won.
Why do we so often have to be reminded of the obvious..that God is in control (rhetorical question).
So, a silly question that hangs in my head
Saeed Abedini, stopped clock or man with a prophecy?
I don’t think that I’m ready for “God is in control yet”. It’s not the sovereignty of God that I am wrestling with today as much as the degree to which people that I love and respect have disappointed me. I have had that as an undercurrent during much of this election, but now that it is written in stone as a result I’m honestly having a hard time dealing with it.
Dallas,
“as the degree to which people that I love and respect have disappointed me. ”
Have you ever considered the possibility that you were a disappointment to them? 😉
This runs both ways – the Cubs beat the Dodgers in the playoffs… but I have moved on.
People are nuts. I put a post on FB this morning stating that if any of my liberals friends needed help moving to Canada, I was free for the next 3 weekends.
A nice short funny FB comment meant to ease the tension. My nephew comes on and says that if Trump knew I was born Jewish that he would make me wear a Yellow Star, but that it was O because we would both be in the same internment camp.
Now has Trump ever given any indication that this is his plan.? So who are the trouble makers here?
KevinH, i LOVE the passage from Isaiah that you chose today… thank you for giving us God’s wisdom… the Divine Viewpoint of what is transpiring down thru time
Thank you Kevin.
Personally, I bumped into my son this morning as we were both getting ready for work and said: “I’m glad I can stop constantly watching the news for the latest election news.”
If I don’t tune it out, I could become very fearful, because we are all in for something very different from what we’re accustomed to in Washington. I could prejudge, but that would just perpetuate arguments. Thus, I will acknowledge that the people have spoken. God has caused or permitted.
Now I will try to go back to my vocations and remember the First Commandment.
Although I did not support the same candidate as everyone here, I share the same Lord, Jesus Christ, with you. Therefore, I consider everyone brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lord have mercy; Christ have mercy; Lord have mercy.
#3 – long years ago when i left college and entered the workforce my corporate executive uncle gave me some sage advice: “Em, the first thing you’ve got to learn is, people are no d*mned good.” he was a man loved and respected by most all who knew him 🙂
sometimes i wish we could all meet the Lord the way the Apostle Paul did – there aren’t many of us who are not riding a high horse of self righteousness…
the ones that have come to terms with themselves and God seem to live humbly in the shadows known by just a few privileged souls – my grandfather was one of them
just sayin
MLD, you are probably right. I’m just coming to terms. Things will be alright, I’m just not there yet.
Btw since you brought up sports, Twitter was an odd way to experience the polling info coming in last night. For one my twitter feed is almost the polar opposite of my Facebook feed, and two because among all of the political sky is falling posts, I was getting updates and highlights from the Pens game and a ton of congratulations tweets for Starling Marte’s second consecutive Gold Glove. A few bright spots at least.
I believe that for all her faults, Columbia is still the gem of the ocean.
And she will endure.