Four years ago, and not a minute after it was announced Trump won the 2016 election, a friend of mine sprinted out the side door at work and racked up a quick ten miles over the span of his one-hour lunch break. It wasn’t a celebration lap–more of a get-the-rage-out-before-I-punch-something reaction.
Once there was a king who prayed and refused to eat because his baby son was very sick. He thought God might see, hear, have mercy. He desperately hoped the Lord would heal the boy. For seven days he didn’t talk to anyone.
When the baby died, the king’s servants were too scared to tell him he was gone. “What if he kills himself?” they asked.
But when King David heard his baby son was dead, he immediately got up, washed his face, put some fresh clothes on, and ate a sandwich (or something like that).
“While the baby was alive, I cried and refused to eat because I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ But now he is dead, so why should I refuse to eat?” he told his people. “What good is it? Can I bring the baby back to life?”
I do not write this to make light of a child dying–David still grieved, after all. I’m sure he made that sandwich soggy with his tears. But isn’t it possible that losing an election is probably less of a cause for pouting than the loss of a child? Far less.
Here are a few other token verses, if you are feeling less than peaceful:
Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no hope for you there. Psalm 146:3 NLT
Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?
Isaiah 2:22 NIV
The Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.”
Jeremiah 17:5-6 NIV
There are far more, my friend. Go crack open that sturdy book this weekend and drink up the wisdom that flows from it. Go calibrate your soul–abide in the Word and let it conform you again to love what God loves.
Sometimes we forget and think impassioned political activism or interest counts for something.
That pride for country can be chalked up to good Christian living.
That the tears in my eyes during the national anthem drip down and enrich the soil of my fair home.
I’ve believed all of these things before. I probably still put off that aroma, actually. I teach my kids to be fascinated with American history, to respect individuals’ rights and differences, to be well-informed, unashamed, and fearless. This is our tradition and our legacy as citizens of the United States.
But…I’m also trying to teach them that our love for Jesus ought to so exceed our love for country to such an extent that love for country looks like hate to the casual observer (see Luke 14:26).
We are disciples of Jesus, not Trump or Biden, the left or the right. Fox or CNN. I want them to see me lapping up the Word at a hundred times the rate they see me checking election results. I want them to see me serving and loving my neighbor a hundred times for every time I bring up politics.
I think, if you, a fellow disciple, are being honest–you want to, too.
Go for a run if you need it–sweat out the disappointment, if your guy didn’t win. Then, wash your face. Make a sandwich.
Get back to the business of loving.
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Jesus turned to them and said,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even their own life–such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:25-27
