The US elections is drawing closer and more and the question many Americans are asking is "Who will the next president be and will they make things better or worse?" Our lives are inevitably bound up to some extent with the choices and agendas of our political leaders.
In Acts 1:6, we see a handful of Jesus' followers with a political agenda in mind. They ask the resurrected Christ, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" All the while, Jesus' handful of followers were looking for answers to political, economical even social issues. They wanted freedom from Rome. They wanted an economic uprise for the kingdom of Israel. But Jesus had other things in mind.
In Acts 1:7-8, Jesus responds saying, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Basically, Jesus was saying two things:
"It is not for you to know times or seasons..." | Look to my timing and power, not yours
We're so eager to see things turn out the way we want them to. We think that if God lets our candidate win, our business fly, our income rise, our enemies fail and so on then God will bring deliverance. But one thing we must understand about God's ways and timing is that they're always higher than ours and it's always way better.
Jesus had spent three years teaching twelve men to trust in Him. Many times they had failed when Jesus wasn't around and to some extent He wanted it that way. That's because Jesus had a plan to send the Holy Spirit that His followers should be dependent on for power and purpose. We are to look to God's timing and ability, not our own, and that's important in an incredibly divisive election year like this one, because God we must remember that whoever gets elected, they are still under God and God will continue moving His purposes forward in His own way, in His own time. Yes, there can be challenges, but where there are God's people, there's always the possibility for God-driven change. As the famous saying goes: "Where God closes one door, He opens another."
"You will be my witnesses..." | God restores spiritually before he does politically
I'm not saying God doesn't care about the government and welfare of people. He definitely does. He set every leader there possibly is, but sadly leaders can be led astray and there is freedom to go against the will of God. Abuses of power and unbiblical policies ALWAYS hurt God. The world is not broken because God is not in control. It's broken because He has lovingly delegated control to people who keep breaking that position of trust and failing.
But that's exactly why we need a spiritual revival before we get a political one. We need leaders who will draw near to God and will draw the people near to Him. 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." God can and will heal our land politically, but not until we are healed spiritually as a people. So, regardless of who "sits on the throne," there is work that ALL believers can be getting on with to see His Kingdom come and His will be done. If there's anything we can learn from the believers who suffered under worldly powers in the Bible, it's that the Gospel never stopped getting preached. Lives continued to be saved. And that's where our focus should be regardless of who's pulling the strings at the top of the earthly ladder.
