This article comes from Rev. Aaron Williams, Senior Pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle. Soon after the Nov. 2, 2010 elections, he published this article in the Zion News and I thought it was a great reminder of God’s Sovereignty. This article is re-published with his permission. There is no formal or implied relationship between Mount Zion Baptist Church and WriteInJesus.org.
The Sovereignty of God and the Politics of Men
[ First few sentences omitted for relevancy to WriteInJesus.org. ]
During this past midterm election, an estimated 3 billion dollars was spent by political candidates on television ads to discredit the opposing candidate while attempting to convince voters to vote for them. It seems as though our mantra in the United States is everything rises or fall on politics.
Dr. King once said, “We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live”. It seems to me that Americans are viewing politics as if it is an end, but we must remember that it is only a means to a desired end. Whether your political conviction is that of a republican or a democrat, liberal or conservative, remember that politics is nothing more, nothing less than a system to accomplish a desired end.
As I watched the midterm election results unfold on Tuesday, and began to contemplate the impact these results would have on the presidency of Barack Obama as well as the future of this Country, the Holy Spirit directed me to Proverbs 21:1. It reads: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” From a human standpoint, we espouse the idea, not to mix religion with politics. In our society, there is the general understanding of a separation of church and state. However, from God’s perspective, there is no such dichotomy between these two entities. You may ask why this is the case. The writer of proverbs tells us “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord”. In other words, no political leader or political party is beyond the divine scope of God’s sovereignty. Those who serve in any political office, from the President all the way down to the House of Representatives are subject to the divine scrutiny of God. The second part of proverbs 21:1 tells us that God directs the heart of the king “like a watercourse wherever he pleases”. It is in the heart where man’s will and God’s will meet. It is in the heart where man’s agenda collides with God’s agenda. Nevertheless, man’s agenda is subject to God’s agenda. Politicians often make promises and devise plans to go in one direction, but God has the last word on their finite agendas. “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”. Unlike man and his political systems by which he makes promises that he cannot keep, God in his sovereignty always keeps His promises. According to Numbers 23:19, God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? As Christians, we can rest and rejoice in the fact that God is still on the throne and that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Amen.
