In the End

“The only good thing about the storm is that it was a break from all the campaign stuff,” I heard someone say this week. This person was obviously fed up with hearing and seeing so much about the election. I too have been fed up, and I don’t even watch TV. This has been the most contentious and expensive campaign that I have witnessed. There is a lot at stake in very different visions for our nation. I have found it hard not to be caught up in the anxiety that is rife and building ever higher.

I am not neutral in this match by any means. While I don’t plan to move out of the country if the other candidate is elected, it is hard to keep the longer view in mind. And I’m not talking about the longer view that is until the next election cycle, or the next decade or even the next century. I mean the longer and larger view that is God’s. When I was in college, I talked with my professor on the History of Christian Thought, David Bailey Harned. I was trying to understand the concept of predestination. Harned’s words have stayed with me all these years—“In the end, God’s will will be done.”

“In the END, God’s Will will be done.” That matters a great deal to me. It doesn’t mean that each event that occurs now aligns itself with God’s Will, but that in the broad scope and in the final analysis, God has the final say. I am also reminded that God can take what evil is done and bring about good from it. From the death of Christ on the cross, God wrought great good for all creation.

And so my anxiety pales in the long view. That is not to say that my vote, and your vote don’t matter. That is not say that every piece of either candidates’ vision for our nation is a part of bringing God’s kingdom here on earth. It is to say that my greatest trust cannot be in any party or position. My greatest and deepest trust must be in the One who set all Creation into motion, who cares deeply, and who calls it forward with purpose. When I feel my anxiety rise, I need to stop and breathe deeply of the Spirit who has given me life.

Romans 8:26-28

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.