In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1 NKJV)
King Uzziah was a good king for Judah. He was (for the most part) a Godly man who was a good leader for the nation. He led Israel for 52 years. That is quite a long time to be king in that era. Basically everyone alive in Judah at the time only knew Uzziah as king. When Isaiah 6 starts, I believe that Isaiah references the death of the king because everyone would remember that time.
I feel that with last night's election, our generation will also reference this event in a similar fashion. Two states (Colorado and Washington) legalized recreational marajuana use. I believe 2-3 more legalized same-sex marriage. A congress with a 15% approval rating was re-elected at an alarming rate. And a president that I disagree with on several issues will probably be able to select 2-3 new Supreme Court justices over the next few years. The repercussions from November 6, 2012 will be felt for 3-4 generations.
But, the good news is: God is still on His throne. He is even still sitting down. Nothing about the elections - from the presidency to the smallest county officials - took God by surprise. He didn't unexpectedly hop up from His seat last night and exclaim "Obama won Ohio!?!?" No, our sovereign King was well aware of the results.
I was thinking about the prophet Jonah this morning, and about Nineveh. Nineveh was in a bad spot.
And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4 NKJV)
He walked around for 3 days and the by the end of the time, the whole city repented and from the king to the beggars, everyone was wearing sackcloth. The king proclaimed a fast and the people repented. And then here is the awesome part:
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. (Jonah 3:10 NKJV)
Now Nineveh was much worse off than America is today. Last time I checked, we didn't have any guys that were spit up from the mouth of a big fish on the shore of Florida that are walking around proclaiming "40 days and America is no more!" (By the way, I am not advocating that you start dressing your family in sackcloth.)
I refuse to be just a critic who sits on the sideline and comments on things happening. I want to get involved. I am not planning to run for office, but I don't want to sit idly by as our nation continues down a path that I do not feel it should go. I want to be a vital part of changing the course of our nation. We need to continue to pray for our nation. Prayer is not something that we need to shelve for the next 3 years and 11 months. We need to begin today to pray for Godly leaders to step up and throw their hat into the ring. We need to see Godly men and women who want to run for county commissioners and mayors and state senators. We need Godly people on our education boards and running our polling places. We need people to be as passionate about voting as they are in supporting Apple, Chik-fil-a, or American Idol.
I will leave you with this final thought. Prayer is a vital component in Christian Warfare. Like the Air Force in a battle, prayer is used to drive the enemy off the ground that we wish to occupy. Prayer can also travel behind enemy lines to attack supply lines and command centers deep inside enemy territory. However, there is one thing prayer cannot do. It cannot take/hold ground unless there are troops there. We need to continue to pray for our nation. We need to remove ground from the enemy and we need to cut off the enemy's supply. But we as Christians need to be prepared to take the ground! Lets do our part. Lets begin now to volunteer in our local communities. Together, we can help lead a nation to a course that will be set toward the King who is still on the throne!
