The Choices of God

It has been interesting for me to watch the rise and fall in popularity of some of the candidates for the U.S. president who are running for election this year. I refer in particular to a few candidates who have appealed to evangelical Christians for support, with more or less success. As one who is convinced that Daniel’s words to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:25 are still applicable during these “times of the Gentiles” (namely, that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will”), I believe it is futile for believers to be supporting and defending candidates for political office. Not only is the visible and vocal support of one’s favorite candidate in social media or in the office break room a questionable use of a Christian’s time and energy, but it is almost embarrassing to see hearty support for a candidate wane in a few short weeks as he or she falls out of favor with “evangelical” voters.  One feels compelled to ask:  “Has God’s mind changed as to the viability of this candidate?”

Some of God’s choices are what we might call “provisional”, and have to do with His government of His earthly people, and of the nations. His choice of Saul as Israel’s first king is an example of that, for it was really in response to their rejection of Jehovah as their king that He served them thus (I Samuel 8:7). But then, ought we not to agree with those choices of God, who is infinitely wiser than we, and who is able to give a nation what it deserves in a leader? Is it an act of faith in God to make a choice when He has declared His competency and prerogative to choose our rulers provisionally? I am confident that God’s choice is always the right one for a given time and a given moral condition.

We can be quite certain that God’s mind never changes, though He may set up rulers and put them down according to His own will. Furthermore, His election of men, or the choice He makes to bless some from among a lost human race (for choice and election are translated from the same Greek root word), is for at least “as long as the sun and the moon endure” (Psalm 72:5), as in the case His choice of Israel through Abraham. In the case of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, that election by God was made completely outside of time, and will never change or lose its effect when the sun and moon are but a distant memory (Ephesians 1:4; I Peter 1:2).  What assurance this can bring to the heart of a believer who enjoys the import and effect of God’s choice!  With Him, there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17), and “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: Hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)  My encouragement to each dear believer in Christ is to distrust our own competence in choosing where God has already chosen, and to trust Him implicitly as to His choices, His election, for in that confidence there is great blessing.