As a former journalist I find myself pretty excited every four years when our national elections roll around. It’s pretty sick I know, but I scour the newspapers daily, trade in the ol’ IPOD music for talk radio for a few weeks and tap network news every morning like an addict jonesing for the morning hit.
Someone help me…
Dog eat dog politics, biting commercials and round the clock reporting all seem to get my juices flowing. There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as a super-revealing expose about the embarrassing third grade shenanigans of some candidate that you can only get on this network, you won’t want to miss it, tonight at nine!
I feel like I am on a first name basis with Anderson Cooper, Bill O’Reilly and Robin Meade. I know no network allegiance, and I can find something to appreciate about them all.
Except Chris Matthews. Dang he annoys me. Even if he is a Christian, I’ll just trust heaven’s a big place and we probably won’t bump into each other
Still, when I step back and really look what’s at stake I am far less excited and a lot more concerned about where we are is a country and where we’re going as a culture.
It’s not so much amusing as it is terrifying.
I’m sure many of you have sat in front of your television in just the last few weeks shaking your head muttering to yourself in a very Rain Manesque way, “If BLANK gets in office, we’re in so much trouble” (you can fill in the blank for whichever guy you are particularly concerned about).
From the economy to the environment, from open conflict to hidden terror, it’s a great big scary world, and we’re all petrified that some yahoo with a personal agenda and whacked out world-view is going to get in charge.
From the time that time began people have looked at their leaders for direction…and then sat down to weep.
But, let me take you back to a Biblical lesson that can give you hope on this, or any election year.
It was the time of the prophet Isaiah and God’s people had been lead by a great King named Uzziah. He had been in charge for 52 years (there were no term limits in those days beyond life span) and according to historians his rule was the most prosperous excepting that of King Jehosaphat since the time of Solomon. Translation: things had been very good for generations.
He was loved, popular, successful and unfortunately, now, he was dead.
The next guy to ascend the throne was King Uzziah’s son Jotham, only 25 years old when he took the reigns of the country.
- How could he ever fill his daddy’s shoes?
- How could he ever be the leader the people needed?
- What hope was there to continue the success that they had seen the last 52 years?
- Had he ever done anything more significant than being a community organizer?
- Had he ever accepted earmarks?
- Had he ever built a bridge to anywhere?
- Wasn’t putting the king’s son in office just putting lipstick on a pig?
(Go ahead, count them up… I poked fun at both sides equal times)
These were dark days for the country with lots of uncertainty, but this was the exact time that God appears to Isaiah in a vision.
Sure it was the year that King Uzziah died, and people we scared, concerned and preoccupied with ‘the issues.’
But, if you’d just look beyond the end of your nose, past the talk shows, debates and negative attack ads, God is seated on the throne, the train of His robe filled the temple and angels flew about his head crying “Holy, Holy, Holy!”
The worship of Him was so amazing that it’s sound shook the very foundations of the temple.
Isaiah…King Uzziah is no longer in charge, but God is. There is nothing to worry about.
I remember my momma coming out of the bathroom in her robe to hear the TV announcement that Jimmy Carter had been elected. She sat down on the couch and cried.
We survived.
I remember preachers going crazy when Bill Clinton took the White House.
We’re still here.
I recall the Conservative Christian Coalition celebrating Ronald Reagan’s re-election as though it were the second coming of Jesus Himself.
Nope.
In fact in 1987 I got a chance to meet President Reagan in the Rose Garden of the White House, a hero of mine. But, I would have to say this:
I serve Jesus Christ, I know Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is a friend of mine. Ronald Reagan, you are no Jesus Christ. (If you didn’t get why that last line was funny… first, you are too young. Second, read this:Lloyd Bentsen (democratic vice-presidential candidate) will be remembered for his interchange with Dan Quayle in their vice-presidential debate in 1988, in which Quayle, a Republican senator, compared himself to President Kennedy. Bentsen, a Democratic senator, replied: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”)
Republican. Democract. Independent. Whacko, Nutjob. We really don’t need to fear, because even though the residents of the White House change, God has never left His throne.
It’s important that we are a part of the process, don’t get me wrong, this is not a call to apathy. This is simply a call to return to sanity.
Make sure you carefully consider, pray and vote your heart, but fear not.