The ‘Mourning’ After

Posted by Susan On November 7, 2012 ADD COMMENTS

It’s the “Morning After” and Facebook is ablaze with the “Mourning After” comments of disillusionment, discouragement, and defeat. It’s the comments themselves– not the outcome of the election last night– that have me so surprised! They so strongly suggest that in their intense fear over Obama, Americans, and in particular, Christian Americans, had their trust in a person, in Mitt Romney, as the last hope of America’s salvation.

All through this election process, there was a widespread concern over both mainline candidates. While Obama was clearly the “evil” choice, Romney was far too often considered to be the “lesser of two evils,” and most admitted that neither choice was a good one. Yet conservative Christians all over chose to throw their full support into a candidate whose faith was very far from Biblical Christianity; whose positions on very fundamental ideas (like the protection of innocent human life) had changed so much that we weren’t sure, really, if we could believe what he said; who was just as committed as his opponent to strong government control, though perhaps in a “gentler” (more palatable) way; and who had never promised to return healthcare to the private sector, just to “re-form” Obama’s basic idea.

Out of intense fear of Obama, Americans (and American Christians in particular) compromised– and Romney became their hope.

The best argument that Christian conservatives could come up with for justifying support for him was that while Obama was clearly heading the train over the cliff at 100 miles an hour, Romney was taking the train over the cliff at a slower speed–although nobody was denying both trains were heading in the same direction. Romney was supposed to “buy us some time.” But would he have really?

History continually repeats itself, it seems, and this had ended up no different from Israel crying out for another ungodly Old Testament king to save them, when they feared the ungodly king that was already suppressing them.

Would we have been better off if Romney had been elected as president? My speculation is that Christian conservatives would have been so relieved to have Obama out of office that they would have sat back and breathed a sigh of relief… celebrated, even, to have Romney rescue them from their oppression. Their vigilance would have relaxed, and Romney– with the confidence of their support– would have politely, gently led them exactly in the same direction, but with their trust and cooperation. Over the cliff.

Like it or not, fear of Obama was not a good enough reason to justify compromising God’s command to us, in our effort to support the lesser of two evils. I know, I know, “no candidate is perfect” and “every man has some ‘evil’ in his heart.” We are not looking for a perfect candidate, or a “pastor” instead of a president– but the Bible is clear on the basic qualifications we must adhere to in choosing a leader (Ex.18:21, “…provide able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, to be rulers…”) and when we blatantly ignore God’s commands thinking we know better, we cannot expect His blessing. We know that.

As a nation, do we really deserve God’s blessing? America hasn’t turned yet. The results of this election show us that. If God had blessed the nation at this point of our rebellion, ungodliness, sin, and impotence, would we have respected Him? Or would we have regarded Him the same way we regard an impotent parent who lets his child get away with temper tantrums, and lavishes the child in his selfish, immature demands? As a nation, we deserve His judgment, and maybe that’s exactly what this election is. We have to remember, it’s God Who makes men rise and fall; it’s God Who appoints kings and princes (and presidents. And we must never forget that a president “administrates,” he doesn’t “rule.”)

It’s the morning after, and Obama is back in office for another term. Buckle up: we’re in for far more turbulence. But will that be a bad thing from God’s eternal perspective? Maybe instead of grieving, we should see “God” all over this! Christians, pick yourselves up! Stop grieving! Wake up! Maybe with Obama back in the saddle, we will be more alert, and it will force us to our knees (where we should have been all along) in prayer for our nation. Maybe it will lead us to repent for the sins we’ve fallen into as a nation. Maybe the Church as a whole will herself finally repent, and stop behaving like the weak, self-centered child it’s too often been, and finally put its armor back on, trained and ready with true spiritual strength for the battle, looking to the King of kings to lead the way.

Maybe as a nation, we will finally stop fearing man, and– finally– fear God.

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