In October of this year I preached on two topics that are massively controversial and politically supercharged. Both messages were prompted by proposed amendments to the constitution of Virginia. The first enshrines a right to abortion in the constitution. The second officially recognizes gay marriage as legal in Virginia’s constitution.
I’m sad to say that both proposals passed. As I write this, it is the day after the big mid-term election. Almost everything I voted for lost big in this one. I woke up to the news, and it was a bitter pill to swallow. I had that lump in my stomach. I felt like I’d been kicked.
As the day progressed, something else also happened. My focus came back to the one who is more important than any human government. One day the government will be on His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6).
When things don’t go our way in the world it is easy to feel hopeless. Actually, it would be hopeless, if our hope was firmly fixed only on the things of this world. Those things will constantly shift.
Sometimes prayers are not answered in the way we think we want. It’s not, necessarily, a defect in our faith. It’s a function of God’s will. We do all that we can to influence this world for God. We pray. We share Christ. We vote. We seek to be good citizens of the nation we live in. Yet, sometimes God’s answer is no.
Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1). In the context Jesus is preparing his disciples for his arrest and crucifixion. They have no idea it’s coming. But Jesus knows it’s coming in just a few hours.
He commands them not to let their hearts be troubled. It’s a command. When we are cut off at the knees by life’s events, we are to refuse to let it distress us. After all, when you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, even the big shifts in the world around you are not as significant as the one who never shifts. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Jesus instructs His disciples to believe in God. Some translations render this part of the verse as “you believe in God” (NIV, KJV, NKJV, NET). There is a reason for this. In this verse, the original Greek word for “believe” can either be translated as a command or a statemen of fact. Either meaning is possible.
Either way, we are to be people who exercise faith in God. What does this mean? It means we trust Him. Our lives are in His hands. We are confident that He has our best interest at heart.
Oh, how this steadies us when we are shaken by upheavals in our culture! Today, perhaps many of us should stop and remember that our ultimate hope was not in a human government anyway. Even when we get our way, those things are bound to fluctuate from election to election.
Sure, we might be disappointed. It’s okay to be disappointed. Yet our God and His continual love is more than sufficient to keep us from slipping into hopeless despair. With Him, there is just too much to be thankful for. It’s hard to stay down for long, knowing this.
Jesus even instructs the disciples to believe in Him. It’s notable that He equates believing in God with believing in Him. “Believe in God” or “You believe in God.” “Believe in Me also” or “you believe in Me also.” Either way, we are called to place our confidence fully in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, Himself, told us to do this.
Our faith is not in some vague idea about some distant God. It is focused in the Word who became flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). Jesus is the Word who was God. Jesus is the Word who became flesh. That’s why He has the nerve to tell His disciples to believe in Him as they believe in God.
When we see the world choosing immorality it should not surprise us. When humanity allows himself to be his own standard for right and wrong, laws will be written which do not honor God. We should continue to pray for repentance and revival on a wide scale.
We cannot allow ourselves to be sucked into a pit of despair. Jesus commanded us to not let our hearts be troubled. He also gave us the thing we are to do, exercise faith in Him. I am so glad that Jesus is on the throne of my heart. It helps me to take the news of our days with grace. It reminds me that real peace comes from trusting in Him. He is the source of our stability as Christians.
Have you met Him? Maybe you’re struggling with turmoil because of the election results. Maybe you’re delighted by them. Either way, Jesus is calling you. God loves you (John 3:16). We have all spurned that love (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Yet His love still reaches out. Jesus died for your sins and rose from the grave (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). You can be saved by placing your faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10).