First of all, let's me answer the
inevitable question, “Who did you vote for?” I don't need to tell
you because it's my business, but I probably need to state that it
wasn't for any candidate towing a party line; I voted write-in for
the first time in my life. Yes, maybe I, “threw away my vote.”
Obviously, my candidate didn't win. But I believed it was more
important to vote for a candidate that stood for my values than it
was to contribute to the “win” of the person that would become
the next president of the United States.
With that being said, I feel compelled
to write about my sorrow over this election cycle and its results.
The words of the candidates and their supporters have been so filled
with hate. The media is constantly producing some story to either
inflate or deflate a candidate. Minorities, people of color,
veterans, country people, town people, almost all people feel
threatened in some way, shape, or form. There are protests and riots
and flag-burnings. I think a great many people are reacting
irrationally, out of fear, rather than out of clear, logical
thinking. That's the normal “fight, flight, or freeze” biological
reaction to stress. Regardless, our country is falling apart.
So what should we be doing?
Specifically, what should people of faith, people who call themselves
followers of Christ, be doing? As I read Psalm 109 this morning, I
was struck by David's response to the attacks of his enemies (unnamed
though they might be). “With words of hatred they surround me;”
he writes. “They attack me without cause. In return for my
friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer” (vv. 3-4).
Wait. What? “But I am a man of prayer.” Ouch. That convicts me.
Have I really prayed about this election? Have I prayed for each
candidate by name, asking
that God save their souls above all else? No. I have to confess that
I haven't, at least not faithfully. Instead, I've complained. I've
ranted. I've avoided the news, tried to remain neutral, fussed about
wanting the election to end. I've uttered a lot of unprofitable
words, I must admit.
And
have I prayed about the issues of the election? Have I talked to God
about abortion, about LGBT rights, about white privilege, about
immigration, about the refugee crisis? No, not really. Do I want my
heart to be enlightened about these issues, and to care for the
people whom they
affect? (See Paul's prayer for enlightenment in Ephesians 1:18). No,
not really. It hurts to think about the gaping needs in this world.
It stings when the Spirit convicts me to take action, or to make
decisions that other people don't understand. I didn't even tell my
family that I voted write-in until after the election. I, too, often
act or react out of fear.
As I
read on in Psalm 109, I see David write about God, “They may curse,
but You will bless.” As the world around me speaks words of
vitriolic poison, am I speaking words of kindness? Am I reaching out
to my many friends who feel threatened by the president-elect? “For
He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from
those who condemn him,” David writes (v. 31). These people who feel
marginalized aren't just any people. Many of them are “our people,”
people of the church, to steal a summation from Mark Yarhouse's book.
And even if these people aren't believers, they're certainly in need,
and Scripture says that God cares! If God cares, I'm obligated to do
the same.
A few
Psalms before 109, David challenges his readers to, “Look to the
Lord and His strength; [to] seek His face always” (Ps 105:4). In
these confusing, painful, polarized times, that's what we as
followers of Christ need to be doing. We need to be praying, to “pour
out [our hearts] like water” (Lam 2:19) on behalf of ourselves, our
neighbors, our countries, and our president elect. Then we need to
take action, for “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead” (James 2:17). Yes, we might screw up. Yes, we
might offend people. But we've got to do something.
As
Spirit-filled people, we believe that we have access to a higher
power. We state that we believe in redemption, that we believe in
miracles. Our country needs both if we're ever going to be what our
country's name entails: The United
States of America. If we as Christ-followers really understand our
identity, if we really
believe what we say we do, the change our country needs had better
start with our prayers
and our actions.
