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Posts Tagged ‘national elections’

Day 5: Don’t Think Like Everyone Else!

Posted in King of All Nations series, Uncategorized, tagged , on September 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Word:  from Isaiah 8 (abridged) (NLT)

 11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, 12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. 13 Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. 14     He will keep you safe.

. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.  (NLT)

 

During elections or times of national tension, everyone seems to be telling everyone how to think! Persuasion bleeds over into defamation; rational arguments become disingenuous distortions of the truth. All parties have their polls to tell us how everyone else is thinking.  Turning to our national sources of information becomes hopeless.

The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does.  Isaiah was directing his audience, not to a political alternative, but rather to God for their truth.

If you are afraid of what could happen, choose carefully where you seek comfort. Don’t create or believe every conspiracy theory. Don’t shudder at the dire consequences that talking heads predict; rather,  look to God’s instructions and teachings and ask God for guidance.  Exchange the polls for prayer; choose to fear God rather than the opposing candidate.

And how do you know which you have chosen?  Isaiah says that the people who ignore the Word of God will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair.

Don’t despair; look to God’s teachings and instructions.

 

Prayer:  O Father, we are surrounded by voices of despair and contradiction.  We struggle to know whom to believe, so we often believe things that aren’t true. Turn our hearts to you so that we can walk in the light of truth and not be afraid.  Teach us to trust your word above every other message. AMEN

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Introduction to King of All Nations: 40 Days in the Word and Prayer Before the Election

Posted in King of All Nations series, Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 25, 2024| 2 Comments »

 ourgodreigns-picThe history of the world is full of critical moments, moments when the fates of nations seem to dangle by the thread of a single decision, a sole ballot, a solitary soldier, most often by some seemingly random act. Lawyers and insurance companies call these “acts of God,” trying to describe events that we humans have little or no control over.  But what if these unique moments really are acts of God!

As I was reading Israel’s history along with the prophets that spoke into those times, the undeniable involvement of God in history was no surprise, but it did strike me differently this time how much God was also involved in the affairs of many other nations, raising them up, bringing them down, punishing them for their sins, and rewarding them for righteousness.

Has God withdrawn from human affairs? Is he no longer concerned about good and evil, about justice and mercy? Does he no longer use nations to accomplish his will?  I’m convinced that the King of All Nations is as present in world affairs as ever.

The current U.S. national election, especially the presidential election, has presented many Christians with challenges that don’t seem to have good answers.  I have no intention of advising you for one candidate over another; rather, what I would like to do is share with you the Word of God, especially those passages that speak about choosing leaders and about the nature of God’s interaction with nations, in order to help you discover perhaps a divine framework within which you can act and find peace about this national election as well as the international events of our times that affect all of us.

Each day, I will share with you a text, some short and others longer, from the Word. My hope is that the Word will not only instruct and inspire you, but also challenge you to apply what you hear to our own election. Unless otherwise stated, all of the texts are taken from the New Living Translation.  Some of the longer passages are abridged, which I have noted so that if you want to read the entire passage you have the citation and can do so.

The Word is followed by a few thoughts of mine on the passage which I present to you, not as exegesis, not as a homily, but rather as initial stimulation to your own listening and thinking about what God is saying to you.

Lastly, we end in a brief prayer, acknowledging that we can neither know nor obey without divine help.

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