Post-Election Day Thoughts

So how did Election Day go for you? Did your candidates win? Lose? Are you optimistic about the future? Pessimistic? Packing your bags for Canada? :-)  [Note: Canada may not want you!]

Elections are important and have great meaning for our country. As Christian citizens, it is our responsibility to vote and choose the best leaders we can. But for the church, the election changes nothing. We will continue to proclaim the Word of God in its truth and purity. We will continue to administer the sacraments as Christ instituted them. We will continue to call to repentance, and we will continue to absolve those who repent of their sins. We will continue to reach out to those who do not know their Saviour with the good news of all that He has done. That is who we are are must continue to be. Perhaps that might become less popular, or even outlawed, called hate speech. If so, so be it. Jesus said persecution would come, and it very well might. We should be ready for it. But the Church cannot stop being the Church. The salvation of souls is just too important.

And we know that the one ultimately in control of all things is not any elected politician, but our Lord. Leaders, nations, kingdoms, countries, rise and fall, come and go, but the Lord remains. He is ruling all things for the good of His Church and His Christians, even if we cannot figure out how that can be! The Scriptures are filled with examples of that. So we can be confident, no matter what the next few years or decades bring. 

So if your candidates won, do not put your trust in them. If your candidates lost, do not despair or lose hope! Instead, take to heart in the words of Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.