Dear friend,

 

- John 16:33 -

 

We took the children to the Snowmobile Club this morning. It's a low, brown building that smells slightly like mold and looks like a church basement. Ivan waddled to the door in a yellow raincoat that made him look just like Paddington Bear and the girls splashed in puddles, each debating presidential candidates based on the ads YouTube showed them the last three months.

 

Josh and I filled in the bubbles with babies at our elbow and we drove home thankful for the right to raise our voices.

 

Tomorrow, we will find out who the new leader of the United States of America will be. Based on the messages I receive on social media and in this inbox, many people are afraid and anxious about the result.

 

But what if we could have peace in election week? Scripture says we can.

 

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thess. 3:16

 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Phil. 4:6-7

 

In last week's episode of Verity Podcast I spoke specifically about anxiety and what Paul meant in Philippians 4. Paul didn't have easier times than we do now. Evil is never unprecedented. He lived in an age of government overreach to the ultimate degree. He was eventually imprisoned for preaching the gospel, which was viewed as a direct affront to emperor worship and a threat to the state's stability. How could Paul tell people NOT to be anxious about ANYTHING in such divided times? 

 

Maybe because His understanding of God's sovereignty ran deeper, and stronger, and wider than his worry about kings and empires.

When Christians have peace in election week, they're often vilified by both left and right as being “passive” and “fatalistic”. But peace and passivity are not the same. Peace is the result of a choice: a choice to trust God's kingship above all other kings and to trust God's saving power above all earthly saviors. Christians who have peace in election time aren't less involved, less educated, or less informed. 

 

They are more in tune to God's character.

 

God's sovereign, loving, redeeming, supporting, rescuing nature is our comfort in difficult times. When we look back at church history, we see faithful people who made righteous lives out of a darkened age. How did they do it? By keeping the truth of who God is ahead of who their opponents were, or what their nation was, or what their future held.

 

It seems abstract to those who spend more time in the news than they do in prayer. 

It seems impossible to those who worry instead of pray.

It seems irrelevant to those whose God is small and whose nation is big.

 

God's omniscient, omnipotent, loving nature anchors us in the raging winds and storms of political engagement. He has seen kingdoms rise and fall; kingdoms no one thought COULD fall. Kingdoms that were supposed to last forever. They died and He is still here, defending His own. He asks us to join hands with Him in righteousness, but even when our attempts at righteousness fail (however we attempt it politically) and kingship changes hands, God is still there.

 

I think of Daniel, an influential man in the politics of Babylon, an exile living in a pagan world. Daniel saw at least three kings rise and fall. He watched kings refuse his advice and reap the consequences. He was persecuted. He nearly died. His friends were persecuted and nearly died. Daniel did not need a perfect government to remain faithful. He was faithful no matter what.

 

How could Daniel live this way?

 

Because His love for God, and his faith in God's character, led his life - not politics. Perhaps Daniel was able to stand strong from a place of peace because Daniel took God at His word.

 

I don't know about you, but that's what I'm choosing this election week. God is still God, as He has always been and always will be. The Savior who watched kingdoms fall and still sought to save humankind – He is still here. 

 

Emmanuel, God with us.

 

The LAST collection launch of the year is next week! I can hardly believe we have launched four collections this year. This launch is full of lovely items for your Christmas list, like:

 

Stay tuned for the launch next weekend!

A few months ago we branched into YouTube for the first time! We continue to post Verity Podcast to all podcast apps as well. If you prefer video, follow along with us on the Every Woman a Theologian channel! Here are the latest episodes: