Today we vote. There have been other times when our nation was deeply divided, not just now, and Christians were set against each other. President Abraham Lincoln was a student of the Bible and his second inaugural address shows how its divine wisdom shaped his leadership.
“Both [sides] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces [slavery], but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!’” (Matthew 18:7; KJV).
Romans chapter 1 teaches that God lets people do what they want, at least for a time. Whoever wins when the polls close tonight can thank God but should not presume that heaven is aligned with his or her platform. Election winners have been given an opportunity but time will tell. As President Lincoln wisely said, “The Almighty has His own purposes.”
“The will of God is always best / And shall be done forever;
And they who trust in Him are blest, / He will forsake them never.
He helps indeed / In time of need, / He chastens with forbearing;
They who depend / On God, their friend, / Shall not be left despairing.”
(Lutheran Service Book, 758, 1).
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