I slept well election eve...did you?

This morning, at work, I met several people that were very tired...and very angry. They had that "world is ending, I'm ready to jump off a cliff" kind of look. I empathize, but decided to take a different approach this year. There is nothing wrong with staying up late to watch election results; or to be disappointed with results. But, I had a very different experience than many I saw today.

I have not paid much attention to the political arena recently, as I found that both "sides" acted in ways that bothered me. I know what is important to me, and how I decide to vote. Much of what has been said recently did not influence me one way or the other. Last night, as I considered the fact that I needed to get up early for work, I went to bed while everything still seemed in doubt. And in the morning, early morning, I spent my time with God - praying, reading, journaling, and praying all the way to work. On my way into my workplace, I looked at the headlines from the paper sitting in the machine outside the doors: OBAMA TRIUMPHS. Why didn't this bother me?

I prepared myself, going to the only source that can secure my heart and help me deal with whatever the outcome of the election. By God's grace, I was able to focus on the only person that really matters in any election. By attempting to take a break from the human element of an election, I sought to consider God's perspective. It is only in God and in His Word that those of us who are followers of Jesus can find the answer to questions such as: "why would God allow certain people to be in power"?;
"doesn't God want to overturn some of the unbiblical things that have been introduced by ungodly leaders"? Doesn't God vote Republican?

God allowed me to focus not on the things that we all wish were answered, specifically, in the Bible; but on what we do know, what we can believe, what we can trust in, where our hearts can settle after any outcome of any election:

1. God is neither Republican or Democrat
Joshua 5:13,14 - "...And Joshua went up to him and asked, Are you for us or for our enemies? Neither, he replied, but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come..."

God is more interested in His purpose and plans, and in the end, is on His own side.

2. God is God and we are not
Daniel 4:35 - "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?"

Job 40:2 - "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it."

Isaiah 55:8 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD."

Psalm 115:3 - "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases."

In the middle of asking all of our "I don't understand" questions, we must stop and recognize that God did not intend for us to understand everything He wills, everything He allows. He is God, we are not; and He likes it that way. We are on dangerous ground when we start to question Him, about anything, including the election.

3. God's goal is to glorify Himself
None of us would have voted for the Pharaoh that would not let the Israelites go out of bondage, as described in the book of Exodus. But, in reading the story, we find out that God had a plan all along.

Exodus 10:1,2 - "Then the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharoah, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD."

And this is what God communicated to Pharaoh:
Exodus 9:16 - "But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth."

Psalm 75:7 - "But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another."

Daniel 2:21 - "...Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might...He removes kings and sets up kings...."

God puts up rulers, not necessarily because the Christians or Republicans, or any individual votes and prays for them to be elected. God is not about our comfort or happiness or political party. He is all about His glory. And sometimes that even means putting people who disagree with God in power so that (in ways that only God can understand and figure out) God is the one, the only one who gets the glory for what He is going to do. Who elected Obama? God did...for His own purpose and glory.

Conclusion: I believe one of the main things we are to learn in any election, and in all areas of our lives, is this: We must get our hopes off of man and set them squarely, and only, on  God:

Psalm 146:3,4 -"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he...whose hope is in the LORD his God."

Jeremiah 17:7 - "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD."

I don't always trust God this well; but on this particular night, on the same night many were worried and upset...I was sleeping soundly. On the morning while many were fuming, seeing what it would take to move to Canada, and just generally angry at everyone...I was focused on God. That is why I slept well last night and will sleep well tonight. I just hope I will learn to do that in all areas of life.
If we all learn, through this, to trust God more, then we will see at least one purpose God had in mind when He cast the vote for our incumbent president.