I Vote LET

[A Christian’s Duties to the State] Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.
Romans 13:1 HCSB

Happy Election Day, everyone! Election Day has fast become one of those days when a divine paradox cannot be ignored. On one hand, I cast my vote, as is my responsibility as a citizen of this country. On the other, I wait to find out who has been appointed by God, Ruler of All. It’s a strange and wonderful thing!

The temptation that comes to me when dealing with a spiritual paradox is to start wrangling the particulars in search of a “solution” to Mystery’s own riddle. And I’ve found no more tempting entanglement than to speculate wildly about the consequences of election results. I am joined by a great multitude in this temptation, because it’s a big one. Few can resist the siren call that begins with “What if…”

This year, I find myself in a new place. Martha’s Let devotional series has just been wrecking and piercing and exposing me—and all the places I’ve anchored my thoughts and my will in resistance and rebellion to God’s call to “LET.” But I actually want the adventure of the LET, and voting is a great place to start.

I’ve always been interested in politics, and I’m not typically bored when reading about different views on how best to govern. I don’t know enough to be an expert of any kind, but I know enough about where to find the experts and their opinions to be dangerous. It’s SO easy to get caught up in the mountain of minutiae of laws and cases and parties and promises. It’s even easier to get buried under it, chasing one bugaboo or another until I can’t find my way out, so I begin beating those around me with my fear or outrage or disgust about one thing or another. It’s not pretty and I know that selfish state of mind really well.

This year, I’d like to focus on the wonder in the waiting instead. I want to watch God’s hand move and I want to glimpse this day through His eyes. As power is won by some and lost by others, I want to know what my King wants from me. Who will He have me pray for and what does He want me to pray? THAT is something I actually want to do. Instead of igniting an inner cauldron of worry and control and fear, I want to experience today by watching God be GOD. He will BE whether I will it or not, and I’m tired of missing the fireworks in the heavens because I’m too busy poring through the filth in search of something a little less dirty than everything else.

In that light, a very merry Election Day to us all!

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12 KJV