Post Election Blues

My heart is heavy and sad today.  I'm not scared, not desperate.  I know God is on the throne and sovereign over all.  I know God is still the same as He was before the election of Barack Obama to a second term.  Ultimately, I trust in Him.

But I am sober, somber.  I know that this nation has made a huge mistake--not because they elected a Democrat and not a Republican, but because they elected a man who claims to be a Christian and yet spits in the face of so very many Biblical ideas and principles, even things as basic as respect for all human life and what marriage is.  That's why I decided to take an open stand against him on Facebook, even realizing I could lose a friend and the mission could lose support. 

America has been moving away from God for some time.  Obama did not start the engine rolling downhill.  But his policies and the principles he openly espouses are like stepping on the gas full speed ahead.  His polcieis and principles mock God and His Word. 

As I thought about the election, I can't help but think of the Bible account of when the children of Israel wanted a king, so they could be like all the nations around them.  God said no, He was to be their king.  But they kept insisting.  God warned them pointedly what would happen if they got a king.  He would make them poor with heavy taxes.  He would enslave their children to serve him.  But they still insisted.  So God let them have their own way, and they suffered all the consequences God had warned them about.  (I Kings 8)

I think about Romans 1:24, 26 & 28, where the Bible says "God gave them up" because "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." 

Is God at the point of giving America up?  Has He done so already?  I can't say for sure, but I do know we are headed in that direction, in a steep downhill race, picking up steam, going faster and faster.  There is a huge cliff ahead, but we show no signs of stopping or slowing down.  I knew before the election we were close to that point if we haven't reached it yet.

I feel we have crossed a line, and there may be no return. 

Of course, I know God can bring us back if we turn from our sin and seek His face, but I also see that when we insist on going our own way, God's judgment often comes in the form of giving us up--simply withdrawing His grace and letting us eat the fruit of our own ways.

My mood tonight reminds me of one of our most difficult nights in Congo.  The army was in mutiny and was systematically pillaging and destroying sections of the city of Kinshasa.  We were staying at a friend's home and they were not able to get back because the streets were unsafe and volatile.  We could hear gunfire in the background.  We heard that the soldiers were coming to loot the neighborhood where we were staying.  They had planned to do so that very night.  There was no way to get out and nowhere to go.  We felt that we might die that night.  We gathered the African guard and workers who were there.  Together we knelt on the veranda and committed our lives to God.  I remember that tears streamed down our faces as we faced the fact that we could be in our last hours on earth.  It was a sober, somber time.  Yet the most amazing peace filled my heart.  I knew that if the soldiers killed me, I would be with Jesus.

That's the sense I feel right now.  Sober.  Somber,  Realizing that we are in awesome and imminent danger as a nation.  Yet still knowing that Jesus is with us.  Nothing can separate us from Him and His love.

The future?  It's not looking bright right now as far as this life goes.  It's looking very serious for our grandchildren.  Yet Jesus is with those who love Him, and we know we are on the winning side in the end.   Lord, let me experience the reality of that in even greater measure!