This Election’s Only Hope
There is a great deal at stake in this year’s presidential and down-ballot elections. Illegal immigration, government spending, and national debt are totally unsustainable. Our justice system and laws are being politically weaponized and unequally applied. We have no unbiased press to keep the people truthfully informed and our leaders honest. The future of free speech and parental rights hangs in the balance. And yet, many of us who claim Yeshua as Messiah just can’t seem to keep ourselves from thinking that elections can fix all this. Many of us still hold onto old, antiquated ideas about voting in America, and believe that elections can still save our country—can save us—and set things right.
But according to the word of God, it is false to hold out such hope. Even while we participate in the electoral process, it is a fool’s errand to look for salvation from any man.
Indeed, David cries out in Psalm 108:12 that “empty is the deliverance of man.” In Isaiah 31:1, the prophet proclaims, “Woe to those going down to Mitz’rayim for help… [who] trust in chariots because they are many, and on horsemen because they are exceedingly strong….” And in Jeremiah 17:5, the seer declares, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and has made flesh his arm of strength….”
This is the hope we have when we look to the presidency, or congress, or the supreme court, or even the constitution to save and deliver us from adversity. It is an empty hope, a false hope, a cursed hope. Man cannot save us and make us safe and free from the destruction and depravity of man. Yes, through sheer will, we can work and plan and resist and fight; we can campaign and donate and attend rallies and vote. But that person you’re trying to put into office can ultimately do nothing for you. They may be made the arm of your strength, but will never be your savior. There is only One in whom we can confidently trust—in whom we can place all our faith, hope and expectations.
“From the dire straits I had called on Yah; Yah has answered me and set me free in a broad place. Adonai is for me, I do not fear. What can man do to me? Adonai is for me among those helping me, And I myself will look securely on those hating me. Better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in a man; better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in princes.” (Psalm 118:5-9)
There is nothing to fear from those who hate you or wish you harm, or from those who lobby, legislate and litigate against your beliefs, your rights, and your future. There is nothing to fear, not because you elect the right person to office, and not because you can’t be hurt, but because Adonai will answer your cries and set you free. Trusting in man and princes and elected leaders is a fallible refuge. It is a false footing that can shift out from under you without a moment’s warning. But when you trust in God, you have a secure sanctuary. No matter what destruction our adversaries may succeed in raining down upon you, only God’s deliverance can bring you the help and hope that you need, that is true, that is strong, and that lasts forever.
As followers of Messiah, we need to think and behave according to the fact that politics should only ever be downstream from our faith—never interchangeable with it, nor inseparable from it. However important or irrelevant our votes may now be, or however significant or immaterial our leaders are, our main focus and energy should be on only one thing: doing the work of being and making biblical believers of Messiah.
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Any hope we have for the future of our nation is in turning the American constituency into a people whose real country is in Heaven—who understand that the default position of humanity is sinful and evil, and that only belief in Yeshua can change and deliver us.
No person, no president, and no election can save our country. But the God of Israel, through the Master Yeshua, can save our souls. The darker the days become, the brighter our light can shine, when we trust not in man for our deliverance, but place all our hope in God alone.
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