In little more than a year, unless things heat up more than even I can imagine, these United States will have an election. Every four years we’re told that this election is the one that really counts, that the future of the nation depends on the outcome. Such is never true, as the future of the nation is not dependent on who sits in the White House but Who sits at the right hand of the Father.
I will suggest, however, that this election is rather unlike what we are used to, because the world we’re living in isn’t what we’re used to. One of the reasons genuine conservatives are skeptical of giving the federal government more power is that they realize that either there are no genuine conservatives in Washington or, if they are, they won’t be there long. Law and order conservatives, after 9/11 were eager to set NSA free to snoop for our protection. Soon enough they were spying not for us but on us. There is supposed to be restraint on each side of the aisle because each side realizes eventually the other side will be in power.
Over the course of the last few election cycles we have witnessed hanging chads and an election determined by the Supreme Court. We have seen the left screeching that that 2016 election was stolen only to see the right screeching the same four years later. We have frontrunners being dragged into court and gagged. In short, we are seeing the trappings of civility and the orderly transfer of power disintegrating before our very eyes. These trappings, more than a well armed citizenry or a well educated electorate are the very bulwark of civilization.
A country where disappointment over a legal verdict leads to mass looting and riots is not a stable country, even if it’s the most powerful nation in the world, even if it has been around for more than two hundred years. That instability, by its very nature, does not stay hermetically sealed from those who had nothing to do with it. Which means that it is likely we are going to have a bumpy year. Maybe not an “Everyone is on house arrest for two weeks to flatten the curve” bumpy, but plenty bumpy.
What do we do? A prudent man sees trouble coming and prepares. While that preparation might include stocking up on a few things, more important still is that we get our hearts in the right place. Preparation means nestling in deep in our peace in God’s sovereignty. It means peeling away the sticky affections we have for the pax Americana and embracing the glorious truth that we are being faithfully led by our Lord to a city whose builder and maker is God. It means stiffening our spines that we might be found faithful by the King when we are found to be scapegoats by the empire.
Eternity remains in birth pangs. The future, however, is secure in the scarred hands of our Redeemer. Be at peace as war looms on the horizon.