When Matthew and I had bought our first home, it wasn’t too long before someone had stolen our garbage can. I was quite upset. We were rather short on money, and garbage cans weren’t free. I wanted my garbage can back. Matthew’s response to the matter was this, “Well, I did some mischievous things when I was growing up, so I’m probably having to pay for some of that now.” My response to that was, “Well, I was a good girl growing up, and half of that garbage can was mine!” I didn’t think that I should have to pay for his misdeeds.

I have to say that I feel that way a little bit about the election yesterday. I voted my biblical convictions on Israel. I voted with my biblical convictions regarding the sanctity of life. I also voted my biblical convictions on marriage.

I lost.

At some point, I believe the Lord will hand us over to ourselves. The Bible states this very thing in the first chapter of Romans verses 24-25.

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

I want to remind God that I do not stand with the majority. I want him to know that I don’t want to vote him out of my platform, and that I want him very much in our government. I do not want to separate him from our leadership. I want him to remember that my heart is turned toward him, and that I am crying out for him to intervene in this great land. Still, I feel that my voice is like the tiny Who voice Horton heard on that flower. Can God even hear me?

About a month ago, my oldest son made this statement, “I think Obama is going to win, and then Jesus will come back.”

To that I said, “Well, things are going to get a lot tougher before Jesus comes back.”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Was his reply.

As much as I wanted to give someone else the chance to do what has not been done in the last four years, and to undo some of the things that have been done, I have to realize that God is still on the throne appointing leaders for us. Even undesirable ones. It’s true.

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1

There is a greater purpose to the things we see happening around us. If we are living in the final days before Jesus comes back to us, then things are not supposed to get better. Actually, the Bible tells us that things will continue to spin out of control. (2 Timothy 3) And while that is a bit of a freakish thought, it is reality. As Christians, we cry for Jesus to return and rescue us, but we have to recognize what that is really going to mean.

This is a time for us to draw near to our Father in heaven who does hear our cries. He does search the earth for the faithful ones who serve him. In the end, Israel has never needed America to succeed. Life is precious whether some people value it or not simply because it is God breathed. The definition of marriage will always stand regardless of those who think they have the authority to change that definition. They confuse themselves with the One who established marriage in the first place.

And finally, in my disappointment this morning over the election outcome, I was reminded that this is not my home anyway. I am just passing through. That mine is not to get caught up in the trappings of this world, but mine is to have a mind for eternal things. This life is but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. My earthly existence is just a brief mark on the timeline of eternity. My greatest investment must be there, not here.