Like many Christian believers, we’ve been pondering the results and ramifications of the Presidential election. I don’t know that we’ll say anything in this short piece that someone else hasn’t already thought of and presented more articulately, but a couple of scriptures came to mind. They both have a theme of earnest prayer in the midst of a life and death situation.
In Isaiah chapter 38, King Hezekiah became mortally ill and was told by the prophet Isaiah that he would die. Hezekiah believed the prophet and set about to make peace with God. After a season of Hezekiah’s beseeching the Almighty, the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah, that he should inform King Hezekiah that his life would be extended for another fifteen years. Not only that, Hezekiah and his city would be spared from the hand of the king of Assyria. Good news, indeed! Hezekiah was delivered from his life-threatening illness and from the hand of his arch enemy in the same breath.
Before I get to my point, though, you may be asking, “Did God change His mind….based on the merit of the King’s prayers or for any other reason?” The short answer is NO. It would be totally against God’s character and revealed attributes for that to happen. However, since finite, mortal creatures do not know the mind of God, it may appear that He has made an exception. I feel assured that’s not the case. In commenting on this passage, Calvin observes that from Hezekiah’s perspective, God may have changed His mind or relented the decree of death, but, in fact, God had ordained the circumstances and events for His divine purposes.
Another biblical example of fervent prayer in the midst of crisis is David’s prayer for his firstborn child with Bathsheba.
From II Samuel 12, “Then the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.
16 David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground.
17 The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.
18 Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm!”
19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’
23 “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” “
David sought the LORD as long as there was the tiniest shred of hope left that the child might recover and live. His prayer was fervent, earnest, and heartfelt. As the life of this helpless infant hung in the balance, the father cried out to God with the anguish known only to a parent when faced with a tragedy of this magnitude.
However, the child died and when David became aware of the outcome, he immediately went back to a normal routine. Not that he didn’t care or was unmoved by the loss. But I think David was aware that he had done the most important thing he could do by submitting to God’s gracious will.
In these two accounts, I see some implications and examples for the church as we attempt to cope with the events of the past couple of weeks.
If we believe in Divine Providence, we should be convinced that however troubling to us, God’s Purpose has been served by the election of Barack Obama as our President. However, because of this man’s stand on abortion and stem cell research, we know the lives of countless unborn children hang in the balance. And there are other related and concerning issues that threaten the practice of biblical values and the observance of God’s commands. In the foreseeable future, the practice of orthodox and biblical Christianity could well be outlawed!
If we as Christians are concerned about losing freedoms we have enjoyed – but possibly taken for granted, more than just a little - the most important thing we can do is engage in heartfelt, fervent, earnest, as-if-our-life-depended-on-it-because-it-does PRAYER! We must keep on praying and beseeching God until He delivers us – as in the case of King Hezekiah or until death – as in the case of David praying for his son!
But we mustn’t give in and we mustn’t give up. We must not assume there’s nothing that can be done or that God can’t or won’t intervene. Let us not live to regret not doing the least and the most we could do.
Let us not be ‘faithless, but believing’ – not in a human political leader, system or particular ideology – in the ability of the Supreme Ruler of all.
Now it's approaching Christmas...note the fabulous decorations in our dining room!