A national election is upon us. Friends, family and neighbors are at odds.
Results may be challenged. What a time we are in. Between the bombast and the ballots, it’s hard to see our way through to a time of hope, of peace.
Wonder what happens after Nov. 5? For the person of faith, it looks a lot like Nov. 4. Pray. Love. Trust.
Pray. Perhaps you find yourself unsure of how to pray. Everything seems so confusing, so angry, so exhausting. Here are two topics you might consider for your conversations with God.
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Let’s lift up our nation. We are a family with so much shared history and an important future. Ask God to humble us, hear us and heal us. It may seem futile but remember – the power is not in the one who prays, it’s in the God who hears.
And let’s ask God to help our neighbors, and let that help start with us. Pray for the compassion to reach out to the single mom across the hall at work and the shut-in at the nursing home. Pray for hope for those still recovering from storms – whether those tempests go by the name of Helene or Milton, or divorce or chronic illness. May God bring his healing balm of hope.
And pray for those neighbors with whom you disagree. Yes, even those who make you mad. The quickest way to douse the fire of anger is with a bucket of prayers. Rather than blame, pray. Jesus did this. While hanging on the cross he interceded for his enemies: "Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing" (Luke 23:34 MSG).
We are never more like Jesus than when we pray for others – those with whom you agree and those you don’t. Pray for this hurting world. God cares about it all.
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Love. Now, love is not exactly the byword of the day. Contentiousness, yes. Anxiety, for sure. Fear, our constant companion. But love seems to be in short supply.
Let’s check our source. This worried world is not the place to look to for steadfast love. Let’s instead turn our gaze to a gracious God whose love will never fail. Governments will fail, but God’s love will last. Crowns are temporary, but love is eternal. Your money will run out, but his love never will.
Let God love you. And let him help you share that love with others. Pause for a moment, right now, and make a list of three people you can show love to today – quietly, simply and unconditionally. I promise you, that offering of love will return to you in unexpected ways, and the hope-o-meter of your heart will rise like the morning sun.
And finally, trust. It’s hard, I know. So many unknowns and the things we do know are worrisome. These are troubling times with challenges both at home and abroad. Leadership matters. But whether your preferred candidate occupies the White House or not, we can know that God’s in charge of who’s in charge. Proverbs states that a king’s heart is like a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he directs it wherever he pleases (Proverbs 21:1).
Might I suggest we lift our eyes and shift our thoughts? We can face the problems of this world by focusing on the promises of the next. The future is not as frightening if you know the future. And you can know the future when you know who controls it.
One of my favorite sermon illustration books contains a story of a missionary and his son. They moved from England to Central Africa in the company of four other adults. Three of them died. The health of the father began to fail, so he resolved to return to England.
He and his boy bounced for days across Africa in an old, broken-down wagon. Upon reaching the coast, they embarked for England by sea. Within a few hours they encountered a brutal storm. The waves and wind combined to make the sound of cannon blasts and shake the ship from stem to stern. During a lull in the tempest, the father held and warmed his son.
Then the boy asked, "Father, when shall we have a home that will not shake?"
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I can’t vouch for the story. The book provides no source. But I can most certainly vouch for the question. I’ve asked it. You’ve asked it. Each and every person has felt this world with its troubles and tremors and asked, "God, when shall we have a home that will not shake?"
His answer? "Soon, dear child. Very soon."
This world, so upside down, will be right side up. People who were rejected in this life will be respected in the next. In this age they were enslaved and sold; in the next they will rule and reign. In this age they were handicapped and sick; in the next they will serve with perfected, glorified bodies.
This sounds like heaven. This sounds like the perfect ending. This sounds like the grand conclusion to the story of God.
We can pray, we can love, and we can trust, my friend. What God says will happen, will happen.
