For Such a Time as This

“The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms
of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.
Daniel 4:25 (NIV) 

Americans are now just two weeks away from our next presidential election. According to pollsters, the margins between the two leading candidates are razor thin and this election’s outcome will probably be determined by a relatively small group of currently undecided voters. Our entire country is extremely polarized between the opposing candidates. Additionally, we’ve already seen some unprecedented pre-election events that have included two assassination attempts, a debate debacle, and two back-to-back hurricane disasters. 79% of the country when polled believes that our country is headed in the wrong direction, regardless of the election’s outcome. There is fear mongering on both sides with legal challenges already being prepared just in case the “wrong” candidate prevails. It all adds up to create a toxic climate of anxiety and fear on both sides.

My weekly women’s Bible group has been studying the book of Daniel over the last seven weeks. It has proven to be timely for us during this contentious election season. The first six chapters of Daniel record historical events that occurred during the 70 years of Israel’s Babylonian exile 600 years before Christ’s birth. Throughout his lifetime, Daniel faithfully served at least four pagan kings in the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires. Kings and kingdoms come and go during those seventy years, but Daniel remains unchanged (Daniel 1:21).  He still faithfully stands and serves. Daniel’s repeated witness throughout his Babylonian ministry was “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to whoever he wishes.”  In other words, no matter what earthly leader reigns, God is the True Sovereign who reigns and rules over all (Daniel 4:17, 25, 32; 5:21). Nothing takes him by surprise or catches him off guard.

The book of Daniel is not a history of survival in exile; it’s a story of impact in a world not his own. Like Daniel, we are called to live among the nations as a beacon and blessing to others. He refused to absorb or assimilate into the pagan Babylonian culture even though he had been relocated, re-educated, and re-named by them as a young teenager. Though captive in a pagan culture, Daniel refused isolation and proved his usefulness while there. The bedrock of Daniel’s usefulness was fueled by his posture and pattern of prayer. Daniel concentrated on serving rather than fitting in. He was fully engaged, but never compromised. He boldly proclaimed and clung to God’s sovereignty in the midst of his suffering.  

How should Christians respond and react in this election?

First, we should remember that our hope is never in a presidential candidate, male or female. Christ is our only hope for our salvation. No man or woman can save us. It is Christ alone who saves and rescues. Biblical hope, a confident expectation that God makes and keeps His promises, is very different from the world’s wishful thinking. Biblical hope is a faith that looks and leans forward. It is both an anchor and a lifeline (Hebrews 6:19) that adds steel to our souls as we face our fears and fix our gaze upward.

Next we should pray like Daniel prayed: consistently and daily, taking God at his Word, and leaning into His promises to hear, forgive, and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 Kings 8:33-34). Father Timothy in Jan Karon’s fictional Mitford series wisely says, “‘Thy will be done’ is the prayer that never fails.”

Third, we should exercise our right to vote.

Finally, we should accept the election’s outcome realizing that the God who is sovereign calls us to submit to and pray for our governing authorities whoever they are (Romans 13:1;1 Timothy 2:1-2). At the time Paul wrote his letter to the church at Rome, the emperor Nero was impaling Christians and setting them on fire to be literal lights to the world. Yet by 500 AD Christianity was an established religion and Rome was no longer an empire, but an episode in the dust of world history. Pray for our next president.

Daniel chapter 6 is not just a fitting summary to the old prophet’s life and ministry. It is a proclamation for everyone to fear and reverence the God of Daniel. King Darius declares:

“For He is the living God and he endures forever,
His kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end” (Daniel 6:26).

God is sovereign. He reigns and rules forever and for such a time as this! (Esther 4:14)