After All is Said and Done…

1 Timothy 2:1-2 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

The 2018 midterm elections are history. This morning we wake up and find that life goes on (at least for most of us). Surely, not one of us got EVERYTHING we wanted and some are grieving because they feel they got NOTHING.

All or Nothing! This is the cry of our politics. And I admit the energy of it all distracts me, it causes an anxiety that cries out for the comfort of group think – the group think that agrees with me! Our enemies and friends, are labeled by a line in the sand. The noise on each side of the line is deafening. So much so, that I loose the signal to hear the still small Voice of God… And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire;  (1 Kings 19:11) For the last 2 years, when it comes to politics, these are some of the sounds I hear!

Today, this morning, I WOKE to the sound I need to hear… and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing… When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.

In admit, I ran to the mountain because I didn’t get everyone and everything I voted for yesterday. I ran to the cave of “SORE LOOSER” because I thought I knew what God wanted and I thought I voted for exactly that.

This morning… behold, a voice came to him me and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah Mary?” 

It was the sound of a gentle blowing! And in the gentle blowing I was WOKE to what God wants AFTER the vote…

When all is said and done, God wants…

• Entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of ALL (not just who you voted for) men, for kings and ALL (not just those who were elected by you) who are in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
• The men (and women) in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, WITHOUT wrath and dissension. (1 Timothy 2:8)
• Render TO ALL what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:7)

Yes, in this wonderful country blessed by God, we are given the privilege and responsibility to participate in our government (of the people, for the people, by the people)…

But it is ALWAYS God who has the final control!

Romans 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 

When all is said and done, it isn’t about making me happy, comfortable, a winner, a loser, part of the “in” crowd. It is ALWAYS about God having His way in me and in my world. It is ALWAYS about hearing and trusting and obeying His still small voice. NOT because I think I know what He wants and furthermore I agree with what I think He wants. But because I love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

In loving Him, I know He is good all the time, and all the time He is good…

Psalm 139:16 His eyes have seen each of our unformed substance; And in His book were all written The days that were ordained for each of us, when as yet there was not one of them. In knowing Him, we can all WAKE UP this morning, and in the midst of the cacophony of voices claiming victory, defeat, and doom and gloom, we can live this ordained day with His abundance.

We can… love our neighbor as ourself. We can owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. (Romans 13:8)

In becoming WOKE we can actively pursue being trained up in the way we should go (Proverbs 22:6), without forgetting that all discipline (training up) for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:11)

For me, the results of the midterm elections of 2018… when all was said and done… has already given this old kid lots of training in love… God’s way. After all, I am His child therefore, when all is said and done, I should learn to love like He loves.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-47)

After all… Titus 3:3-7 we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

When all is said and done…

When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

Let’s all be WOKE this morning!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.