It is election season, and of course everyone around me has an opinion about how I should vote and why. Probably like you, I hear statements that seem improbable, so where can I go to find the truth, and whom can I trust?
Amazingly, the very money in my pocket tells me in whom I should trust – rather than trusting in the money itself. U.S. currency is printed with the acknowledgement that it is “In God We Trust.” This fact of truth is so simple that for many it is hard to believe, but it is indeed true. God rules the world, He is truth and light, He cannot lie. These are some great biblical facts I try to keep at the forefront of my mind when it seems as if the world is gyrating out of control.
Here is another important fact for me to remember: As Paul told the Philippians, “Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” When I speak with fellow Christians who are intensely and anxiously ingrained in the politics of this season, I truly try to let my gentleness be apparent.
There is no reason why I should not to be able to converse about the upcoming election and the candidates with my brothers and sisters in Christ in anything other than a gentle voice, because hopefully we both understand that God (and neither of us) is in control of this world.
In Proverbs we are told, “In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.” One-handedly God takes control of the king’s (or president’s) heart and channels it to His will. What a blessed assurance is mine to know God is whom I can trust.
This assurance is not just so for the election of the president of the United States, but this goes as well for the wars in Israel and Ukraine and floods and fires around the world – and for my personal needs and illnesses – all this because I fully trust God.
Recently my sister-in-law and my husband were ill with the same ragged stomach virus. I know what misery it is to have such a lowdown dirty illness, and I kept both in constant prayer. Thankfully, each came out of the illness without permanent harm, and both had a greater appreciation for leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus.
Every day might be my last on Earth, or my husband’s. My friend Janet lived her last day this summer and now lives with Jesus in heaven. What a comfort it is to know my heavenly home is prepared and awaits when God is ready to call me. One of the other blessings of trusting is that as a Christian I know that no one is ever called too soon or too late – my life will end in God’s perfect timing.
If God had chosen to take my sister-in-law or my husband home with their illnesses, it certainly would have comforted me knowing that God’s plan is always perfect – there are no mistakes or accidents in God’s hands. Still, my grief would be real because I cannot see the bigger plan, but I know truly that “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”
I love God and am called by God – I know this is His truth, that all things will work together for my good – even if I don’t understand the process. I trust Him.
In the larger world around me or the tiny world within my home, God is in control. I have relinquished all of my say-so to God because of my trust in Him in this election season and every day. If you do not share this blessed assurance of God’s control, I would encourage you to seek God. Pray and ask Him to show Himself to you. Seek out a pastor or a friend who knows this living Lord and ask questions and sincerely listen to their answers. Keep praying for God to open your eyes if you are seeking because He tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
The God of all creation who holds the entire world in His hands wants you to know, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Trust Him. He is truth.
Editor’s note: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.
