Choices, Changes and Challenges

This last couple of weeks I’ve been preoccupied with my work. I’ve had several long days during a six day work week. It’s kept me from getting much written, but certainly not from contemplating my next post. And with the elections recently passed, there has been quite a bit of time in reflection regarding the state of our nation, what the next four years will bring, what is God doing in the midst of this, and what will it look like when we get to the other side?

I believe we as a country are in for a time of radical transition that our generation has generally not witnessed. Anytime there is change, it’s a bit intimidating. I think it’s how God has made us though. Through our closeness with God, we grow more secure in knowing that he will see us through to the other side and it brings a calm to the challenges the world throws at us. Christians or not, some people will face extraordinary turmoil, seemingly more than they can bear and others will experience a minor bump in the road to their daily living.

And this brings me to the central thing I’ve reflected on the most over the last few months. What is the source of your foundation? What principles and values guide the decisions that you make each and every day? For many people it’s their weekly paychecks and trying to have some money left over after the bills are paid. For others, it’s the relationships with family and friends that they have. And yet others, it’s “living the good life” so they say or “do whatever makes you happy” or “let people do what they want as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else.”

Americans across the nation cast their vote last Tuesday and determined what our country should stand for over the next four years and beyond. And I can’t help but wonder, “Did we just birth an Ishmael?” Only time will tell what will come out of this election and the impact it will make on our nation over the next several years. And oftentimes, we don’t know for some time down the road that the decisions we made were Ishmael’s instead of Isaac’s.

The one thing I rest assured in is that God is in control. His Word tells us that He works things out for our good, not to harm us. He tells us that we have a future and a hope. He can turn a nation in a day; what can stop Him from turning the hearts of our government leaders? And who am I to tell God that one should be our nation’s leader over another? Is it God that has the plan that I should come into agreement with or my plan that He should agree with?

The one thing we as Christians can do is continue to seek Him – in worship and in prayer. God can change a nation in a day or over four years. But only through His sons and daughters that continue to choose Him first!