Biblical Perspective on the Election, Day 1

Leslie Basham: In the aftermath of a dizzying presidential election, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth reminds you of one thing you can know for sure.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Who’s in charge here? Republicans? Democrats? Independents? Not on your life. Who’s in charge? The Most High God!

Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth for Thursday, November 10, 2016.

Last week, Nancy addressed a group of women and gave them some important perspective on the presidential election. I think all of us have been tempted to be nervous about the election, and the future of our country.

Even though she didn’t know the results, Nancy shared some bedrock truths all of us can lean on, no matter who is in the White House. Her message will show you how to rest on God even when it seems like the rest of the world is crazy. Let’s listen.

Nancy: Today on Revive Our Hearts, I want to step back and give us all some perspective on this week’s news. I want to talk about our response to everything that has taken place on the political front here in the United States in recent months . . . starting with this word from the Word of the Lord:

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them . . . The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. . .but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord! (Ps. 146:1–6, 8–10).

This is the Word of the Lord!

Oh Father, we lift our eyes up to You this day. You are our help; You are our hope; You are the God of the universe. You reign forever, and we give You thanks this day. We bless You; we praise Your holy Name.

Now, would You give us wisdom and encourage our hearts from Your Word as we talk about what’s going on—what’s gone on—and what we have to look forward to in the days ahead. And we’ll give You thanks in Jesus’ Name, amen.

Well, I’m actually recording today’s program five days before our national election here in the United States—before knowing the outcome. But, by the time this program airs, the election will be over and the American people will have cast their vote for the forty-fifth President of the United States.

Now I realize that, especially this year, it’s a bit risky to attempt to make comments in advance of this election. You might recall that in the 2000 presidential election, it actually took six weeks to declare a winner.

And as crazy as this election cycle has been, it’s possible that in the week between when this is being recorded and the time we actually air it, something unimaginable could happen and change everything.

But I’m going to assume that we will have had a peaceful election, and by that the time this airs we will have a new president-elect, and we will know the outcome of—not only our national election—but our state and local elections as well.

I think that you’ll agree that, in our lifetime, there has not been any election as polarizing as this one has been. Most of us have wrestled with the issues surrounding this election for months. We have had long, hard conversations around dinner tables, between husbands and wives—right, honey?—on Facebook, on blogs. And whatever the outcome, there are millions and millions of Americans—today—who are greatly disappointed, and there are some who are really angry. I have felt myself at a loss for words over the past several months. It’s hard to know what to say, what to think.

But I’ve often reminded women over the years (we’ve done this again and again on this broadcast) that we should not be controlled by our circumstances or by our emotions, but that we need to counsel our hearts according to truth. This is a time when we need to do just that!

We need to go back to God’s Word and remind ourselves of bedrock, solid foundational truth—truth that does not change regardless of who is in the White House, regardless of who wins what election, regardless of anything that may happen (in our world, in our nation or in your workplace or your church or your community or your home) this day.

Over these past several weeks, as things have just felt kind of unsettled, I’ve found truth and hope and perspective in this Book a whole lot more than in the news. This is the news we need. (What I’m holding up is a copy of my Bible, for those who are listening to the broadcast.)

So today and tomorrow, I want to wash our minds—wash our hearts—with some of the passages that have particularly spoken to me and brought encouragement and hope and peace in the midst of this tumultuous time.

One of the parts of Scripture that has meant a lot to me over these last days is the book of Daniel. I’d invite you to turn there. I want to look at several places in Daniel over these next several moments.

Daniel, as you remember, was a Jewish exile in Babylon. He served in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar, and he was promoted to a high position because he had an excellent spirit. He had an excellent mind. He was sharp; he was wise, and so he found a place in this pagan government. Without trying, he was elevated.

But he was always a foreigner in Babylon! His people, the Jewish people, had different laws, different rules, different beliefs, different practices than the people did in Babylon. And things that were commonplace in Babylon were forbidden by Daniel’s God. Things that God loves (Yahweh—the God of the Jews—the God of heaven and earth) were often despised in Babylon.

So Daniel was one of these people who was always out of sync with his culture, always out of sync with his times. He had to deal with a lot of difficult, perplexing, complex situations—things for which there seemed to be no human solution, no human way out.

But I love about this man that he kept his heart anchored in Yahweh! He was a stranger in a foreign land, but he was a man who was at home with His God, and that’s where he kept his heart anchored.

He was perpetually looking to God for wisdom! “Lord, what do we do? I don’t know what to do! I can’t understand these times. This is a hopeless, helpless situation, so what should we do?” And he would lift his eyes up to the God of heaven, and he would get answers and he would get hope. He would come away with boldness and conviction and courage and confidence in his heart because he knew his God. Daniel prayed to his God; he knew the Word of His God.

Let me give you an illustration: Remember when King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream, in Daniel 2? But he couldn’t remember what the dream was. He woke up the next morning and was like, “I know I had this dream. I know it’s really important. It has really disturbed me. It disturbed my sleep. It’s disturbing me now that I’m awake, but I can’t remember what it was. I know it means something important.” So he went to his sorcerers, to his magicians, to his wise men.

He said, “You have to tell me what I dreamed last night—not just what it meant.” These guys, of course they could not figure this out; they couldn’t tell him the dream. So the king ordered, “Off with all your heads!” He ordered them all to be killed. He was a rash, arrogant, brutal leader.

Well, when Daniel hears about the situation, he gets together with his three Jewish buddies, and they pray. They go before the God of heaven—the God who knows everything—even what kings dream. They prayed, and they asked God to reveal the dream and its meaning.

We read in Daniel 2:19: “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel.” He asked God, “What’s this about? What’s this mystery? I can’t solve this, but God, You know all things.” And, “The mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.”

What’s Daniel’s response? “Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” He’s living under a wicked, erratic, ruthless king—a man who was totally stuck on himself. I mean, this is the king who is building mile-high images to himself and having everybody fall down and bow down and worship him!

And Daniel says, “I bless the Lord, the God of heaven and earth."  “Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings” (vv. 20–21).

So, in this season we’re facing today, where do we start? What do we say? What do we do? Well, we start where Daniel did . . . we worship! We bless the Lord! We lift our eyes up above our national or international or personal circumstances, and we worship.

We acknowledge God’s greatness. We acknowledge His wisdom. We acknowledge His power. We acknowledge that He is Sovereign. We cry out to God Most High! He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. He is the Supreme Judge. He is above and over all. He rules. He rules over this world; He rules over all nations. He rules over every election. 

And this is a recurring theme throughout the book of Daniel. Turn to chapter 4, for example. I’m just going to move you through a few verses. It sounds repetitive—and it is—but I think that’s because God knows we need to have this repeated.

We need to remember this.  “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men” (v. 17). Who’s in charge here? Republicans? Democrats? Independents? Not on your life! Who’s in charge? The Most High God!

He rules the kingdom of men. He gives it to whom He will. He sets over it the lowliest of men, because all men are lowly (all women, too, by the way, let me just say). Anyone who is running for any position, everyone who is in any conflict in this world, they are all lowly. We are all lowly, and God rules over all.

Look at Daniel 4:25: “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Verse 32: “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Look at Daniel 5:21: “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.”

Now, in case you didn’t really get that (I read it like three or four times there, all within two chapters), I want us to just repeat this. Let me give it to you a phrase at a time, and I want you to affirm this out loud with me.

If you’re listening to a podcast, you’re listening on the Internet, you’re listening on a radio station—I want you to say it out loud. You say, “I’m at work. I might get canned for saying this.” Well, you say it as loud as you dare to, because it’s true.

Say it after me: “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind . . .” (ladies repeat)  “. . . and sets over it whom He will!” (ladies repeat) Now, I’d like to do that once more, and I’d like to have us do it with all our hearts, with all our energy!

We heard some really mighty, loud cheering at baseball games last week! As I listened to some of that singing a week or so ago at Wrigley Field—and over those days—I thought, Listen! We have truth. We have something to shout about!

“The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom He will.” Now, if you’re needing to go back and remind yourself of that in the days ahead, that’s Daniel 5:21. It was true then. It is still true today, November 10, 2016.

God is the One who ultimately sets in place the rulers of the earth. He raises up, and He pulls down leaders. Now, in my opinion (and I want to make it clear that I’m not speaking in this moment for Revive Our Hearts, and I realize some listeners will strenuously disagree with me—and that’s okay) . . .

In my opinion, both of the major presidential candidates representing our two major political parties are deeply flawed people. Both of them have promoted a worldview that is contrary to the Word of God, in many respects. From my perspective, neither candidate has demonstrated the kind of character that would qualify him or her to be a wise or a good president. There . . . I said it.

What kind of qualities are we talking about? Qualities such as those listed in Exodus 18, describing the kind of leaders Moses was to appoint over the Israelites. They were to be able—or capable. They were to fear God. They were to be trustworthy (or men of truth). They were to hate a bribe or dishonest gain.

Now, just in that short list of qualifications, we do not have people who run for the highest office in our land who meet those qualifications. But the people in our democratic republic have spoken. Votes have been cast (and that’s a privilege, by the way, for which we should be grateful, no matter how this election has gone). Decisions have been made.

But I want to remind us that, ultimately, it is God Most High who has set over us both our current president—and the next one to come.

A friend of mine who knew I was going to be recording this series five days before the election, texted me, and she said, “You know, it’s actually pretty neat that you won’t know the outcome when you record this series . . . because there’s zero percent chance of the outcome being good.”

Well, in a sense, that’s true . . . but in another sense, it’s not true . . . because in the ultimate sense, it’s all good. You see, as children of God, we are people of hope. We need to recalibrate our hearts perpetually, but particularly in a season of upheaval, such as the one we’ve been in.

We need to remind ourselves that God is not wringing His hands in despair over the outcome of this election. God is not a passive bystander watching as history just unfolds in our world. Heaven rules! That’s a phrase we find in the book of Daniel chapter 4, verse 26: “Heaven rules.”

And if there’s a two-word phrase that summarizes the whole Bible and all of history—past, present, and future—it could be those two words: Heaven rules! Say it with me: “Heaven rules!” Now, say it like you mean it. “Heaven rules!” 

I’ve been signing texts that way. I’ve been signing emails that way. I’ve been saying this on calls and in conversations: “Heaven rules!” It’s true in our world; it’s true in our nation; it’s true in my life and in yours: “Heaven rules!”

God is sovereign over elections. He is sovereign over nations. It is God who raises up and brings down leaders. Listen to this passage in Psalm 75 (if you’d like to turn there, feel free). This is another passage that has encouraged my heart over these last days (I’m beginning at verse 2). God says, "At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.”

Listen, things are not fair now; things are not as they should be now. Things are reeling out of control, humanly speaking. But God says, “At the set time that I appoint—when I say it’s time—I will judge with equity, with justice, with truth.”

And then this—verse 3—what an encouragement. “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” Don’t you love that? In fact, the next word is selah. That means, “Stop and think about that. Pause.”

Let me read it again: “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants . . .” By the way, it’s not just things that are happening in this country that are reeling and tottering and out of control. We have brothers and sisters in countries all around the world today who are experiencing much more dire circumstances than we are here in the United States. There are famines, there are wars, there is terrorism, there are atrocities being committed in this world today against believers. There are believers and non-believers alike in exile all around the world.

And when the earth totters and all its inhabitants, God says, “It is I who keep steady its pillars.” God’s in control! Verses 4 and 5: “I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn; do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’”

And, by the way, that’s not just a word for rulers. That’s a word for those of us who are commentating on what’s happening in our world and in our nation. Don’t be haughty.

Psalm 75:6, “For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up.” Not from Red States, not from Blue States, not from Purple States, not from East Coast or West Coast, not from cities, not from rural areas . . . not from the United States or any place in the world.

“Not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another” (vv. 6–7). You say, but sometimes it doesn’t look like He’s doing a very good job of that. He says, “I will do it in the time I appoint.”

God decides when it’s time, and what will bring the greatest glory to Him. We’ll talk more about that in tomorrow’s program.

Several weeks ago there was a post by Max Lucado—an op-ed piece for Fox News—titled, "My Prediction for November 9." Let me read to you just a paragraph of what Pastor Lucado said.

I have a prediction. I know exactly what November 9 will bring. Another day of God’s perfect Sovereignty. He will still be in charge. His throne will still be occupied. He will still manage the affairs of the world. Never before has His Providence depended on a king, president, or ruler—and it won’t on November 9, 2016. Circle November 9 on your calendar, and write upon it the words, "Our good God rules the world!”

Our good God rules the world! You could write those words, not just on November 9, but on November 10—today, November 11—tomorrow, November 12—the next day, and on every day of the year.

Regardless of what is happening in our world—or in your world—Heaven rules! Our Good God rules the world!

These are times when it’s awfully easy to be anxious and troubled. But Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. [You] believe in God—believe in me” (John 14:1). Then He proceeded to tell His disciples what was coming, what was going to happen—that they could have confidence about the future.

There’s a hymn that’s been on my heart over the past week or so. If I’ve been tempted to be troubled, at times, about what’s going on in our nation and in our world . . . and not just about that, but other things I’ve been facing in my life—serious health issues in my extended family in recent months. I don’t know where all that’s going, but the Lord knows.

I’ve been reminded that,

Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious in its bright increase.
Perfect yet it floweth, fuller every day.
Perfect yet, it groweth deeper all the way.

Stayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed. 
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand.
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there. 

Where? “Hidden in the hollow of God’s blessed hand!” That’s where you are if you’re a child of God. You’re safe; you’re protected. All is well, and all will be well. You say, “But what about all the things happening around us?” Well, the next stanza talks about that. 

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of love.
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true. 

​"Like a River Glorious" by Frances Havergal

That song is based on Isaiah 26:3, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Do you need peace today? Do you need peace about what’s happening in our world? Have you found yourself just getting exorcised and venting and hyperventilating and frustrated and in conversations where the decibel level rises and it gets more and more intense?

We’re all commentating and pontificating on what’s going on. We’re yelling at the TV, and we’re yelling at the news anchors. No. That’s not the way it should be with us. “You, Yahweh, will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You—fixed on you—because he trusts in You.”

Listen, people ought to be able to look around today and see that Christians are happy, Christians are peaceful. Christians are concerned, Christians are praying, Christians are burdened . . . but they’re at rest. They’re trusting in God.

I hope you’ll join us tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts. We’re going to talk about “where to from here?” Now that we have a new president-elect, the election season’s over, what can we be doing? What should we be doing—as citizens of a nation that has forgotten God, that has rejected His ways?

Be sure and join us tomorrow for Revive Our Hearts. 

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

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