Vote With(out) Hope
The first election I remember was in 1984, when I was 9. Reagan won 49 of 50 states and garnered 525 electoral votes to Mondale’s 13. As the incumbent president, I don’t think that election was about hope as much as this one is. I don’t think people were so concerned about their future being better, because they were pretty happy with their present!
This election, however, is about hope. The rhetoric among the parties is about who will raise America out of the recession, who will create new jobs, who will change the trajectory of our nation in the world at large.
But, as Christians, we need to realize we need to Vote Without Hope. Don’t place your hope in any one person. Ultimately, whoever wins will not deliver on every promise. Neither candidate will be able to accomplish everything they intend. And in four years, we will probably be using the rhetoric of hope once again to nominate new presidential candidates.
However, we can Vote WITH Hope. That is because we believe in a God who is sovereign over the president and Congress and supreme over the Supreme Court.
Proverbs 21:1 reminds that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord.” What a promise! God is in control. In fact, Romans 13:1 tells us “there is no authority except that which God has established.”
No matter who wins and whether “your guy” wins or loses, you can hope in our God who is the ultimate ruler of nations. So, whether you agree with where we are going as a nation or not, rest assured you can hope in the literal “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:6).
