meanderings from 39,000 feet on the election…
NOTE: I have been doing a series on politics and social concern. This week, I will take a break to share some "meanderings" from 39,000 feet concerning the upcoming election...
Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding. (Daniel 2.20-21)
Our world looks vastly different when I am on an 11-hour flight looking down from 39,000 feet. The high altitude squashes the dimensions of the landscape below, and it also conceals the beautiful panorama of faces normally visible to me. The view from up here reveals no borders, poverty, war, hostility, or divisions. But it also hides joy, creativity, ingenuity, and generosity.
The view from 39,000 feet is simple and peaceful. It invites me to behold this created planet, mindful that everything and everyone that has life and breath shares this space amidst diverse climates, environments, and geography. From street level, however, the view is more complex. It assaults my eyes daily with a barrage of emotions: courage and fear, solidarity and division, compassion and hostility, grace and judgment, charity and greed, the abuse of power, and the selflessness of sacrifice, laughter, and lament.
From 39,000 feet, there is no "side to take" or "line in the sand." But from street level, my imagination is challenged by daily attempts to hijack it with images, sounds, and speech that demand my allegiance. Whose side will I be on? Whose cause will I support? Whose anger will I embrace? Human capacities that should unite us are distorted behind the rhetoric of bias. These deep divisions erode our ethics, weaponize our differences, excuse violence, disintegrate common truth, vilify the poor and non-white people groups, and define victory using the language of dominion and vanquishment. Such is life in 21st-century America.
Occasionally, a glimpse from 39,000 feet can be helpful. It allows me to reset, be inspired, realign, and reassess. But it can never be a "place" to retreat permanently. The truth is, I was made for the "street."
All of this leads me to Election Day in the USA next Tuesday. Before I get my "knickers in a knot" over the outcome, I find myself reflecting on 2 questions:
1. Does anything change? No, nothing changes. Policies, personnel, and rhetoric may shift, but these changes won’t alter the nation’s soul. The truth is that this nation, represented by all her political parties, is increasingly showing a growing disregard for the biblical and historical God who has revealed Himself through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. His ways, words, and warnings remain unacknowledged and/or unheeded. Regardless of who occupies the White House, the nation will not become more welcoming to the Lordship of Jesus. Revival, not elections, is what transforms a nation.
I think that in the United States,, it is easy for us to equate wealth and success with God's favor. But let us be cautioned and humbled by the history of the Assyrian empire. God used Assyria, the wealthiest and most powerful nation at the time, not because He condoned its barbaric empire-building but simply because He chose them as His "tool" to judge Israel and other nations. Assyria's national delusion in their own self-sufficiency positioned them for the judgment of God that would eventually visit them. Consider these verses from Isaiah 10.5-19:
“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
I use it as a club to express my anger.
6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
to cut down nation after nation...Is. 10:12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,
“By my own powerful arm I have done this.
With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
and carried off their treasures.
I have knocked down their kings like a bull...
Is. 10:15 But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
Can a wooden cane walk by itself?...
18 The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory
like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
it will waste away like sick people in a plague.
19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
so few that a child could count them!
We must remember this: It is not always God's favor that promotes a nation, but it is always God's will -- and the intent of His will is inscrutable to us. No wonder Paul cries out with praise-filled frustration: "Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" (Romans 11.33)
We are not called to be co-workers with God in the knowledge and execution of His sovereign will. However, we are given the astonishing opportunity to be co-workers with Christ in His redemptive purposes. (see Romans 16.3; 1Corinthians 3.9; 1Thessalonians 3.2)
2. How will I choose to live? The answer to this question is the same as question 1: “Nothing changes." While the answer to question 1 is observational, the answer to question 2 is existential! Because nothing changes, I will still resolve to live on mission:
I will still choose to surrender to God through daily worship and prayer. I will renew my "Yes" each day as if it is for the first time.
I will still pray for this nation I have been assigned to. I will pray for our leaders to be humbled before the Lord and be gifted with wisdom so that we might live in peace.
I will still invite the Holy Spirit to convict me through His written and living Word-- to challenge my worldview with His Kingdom vision, which is true, real, here now, and coming.
I will still ask the Lord to form my soul with His heart, His righteousness, and His love.
I will still seek a daily filling with the Holy Spirit so that I might express His grace, truth, and love.
I will still devote my energy to building up an apostolic Church-- to be a community on mission locally and globally.
I will still celebrate fellowship and establish myself within a local community in Christ.
I will still endeavor to be a man of grace and truth, a good friend, practice hospitality, and live generously.
I will still identify myself with justice as God defines it and seek to resource the poor.
I will still preach and teach the Scriptures -- the Good News of His Kingdom and the Gospel.
I will still deliberately seek opportunities to share the Gospel of the Kingdom through word and deed.
And at the end of each day, I will still choose to surrender that passing day to God, expressing my gratitude and commitment before I sleep, as if it were my first time saying “Yes” to His will.
On Tuesday, the nation will "decide" on its next president. Next Wednesday morning, just like this morning, I will wake up and choose to live a life defined by the Great Commandments and the Great Commission...
Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind... Love your neighbor as yourself... Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 22.36-40; 28.18-20)
Nothing changes...
