“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
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God has bidden us to pray for our leaders and especially that we would pray for “honorable men, of good character” and to “choose” them to rule over us. He has given us a biblical mandate to pray for these things as well as the opportunity to vote for them. God’s Word says in Proverbs 16:33 “the lot is cast into the lap but its every disposing is of the Lord” so as we cast our vote in good stewardship of the blessing that God has given us, we do it from a biblical worldview, seeking God’s face, basing our selection using Scriptural principles applied to choose the man that best will represent us and have the “rule over us.” In our day especially, we are given such great opportunity and this gift to participate to God’s glory in exercising this gift for our good and that of our neighbors. All of these things are in His most wise providence and are part and parcel of our responsibilities to be good citizens of our respective lands.
The question of why some Christians do not vote is an enigma to me. I believe the Bible is clear on our Christian responsibilities and this blessing, as it was to those of old who cried to the Lord for righteous rulers over them, is one and the same. In our day, we have a special gift as women to be a part of it. I have over the years heard many reasons why Christians do not vote. For example, “we are not of this world,” “God is sovereign so we can wait on Him” “God will put in office who He wants so no need to vote” “neither candidate is a Christian or is doing what is right” “We do not entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life” (the error in this one is a total misinterpretation of this verse) and like reasons. None of them and others I have heard are biblical or correct in application but an incorrect hermeneutical or uninformed/immature understanding of God’s teachings of our responsibilities to be good citizens and godly examples. One of the ways in which we show that we “stand for righteousness” is to stand against sin, abortion, adultery, same sex marriage, homosexuality, pornography and the like is through our prayers and voice to speak God’s Word in practice, application and to vote for those men who will best serve our country and community. These men, just like us, are not perfect and many times they are men who “know not the Lord” but we still use the biblical principle and vote as biblical stewards of our gift and right to vote. We know as we pray and vote, that God will bless it and us because of it. We cannot ever take a fatalistic approach to anything in this life. To do so would be fatal to our faith and witness. God has called us to “speak” His Words and “apply” His principles and voting is one way in which we can glorify Him in being obedient children in praying and voting for a godly leader. He says,
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
This means that we are to be active participants in humbling ourselves, praying, confessing our sin, and seeking His face for His forgiveness and the healing of our land. God wants our participation in His mighty acts in our daily lives and that includes are prayers and to be responsible citizens in our culture. We cannot be like the Lot and the children of Sodom and Gomorra with our heads in the sand and oblivious to what is going on around us. We vote, support good laws, and use the gifts given to be good stewards of our citizenship.
God’s people act and God, in His providence, blesses. Think about homeschooling. Folks homeschooled for years and then children were forced by laws to attend public schools and after much hard work, prayers, voting, and the like, God in His providence, working through His people, opened the opportunity and means for families today to homeschool their children. We all have seen the blessings of this in both public and church life. Our children are the smartest and the best of the best. God’s blessings on our hard work and working in and through our culture to stand strong for righteousness and to bring to pass this victory and blessing for our children and families. We can apply this same principle time and time again in many aspects of the Christian life and I am sure all of us can number on more than both hands the blessings God has bestowed upon us because of the opportunity to stand strong in our culture and community.
For the glory of God….
