When a person approached to bow down to him, Absalom reached out his hand, took hold of him and kissed him. Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for a settlement. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.     2 Samuel 15:5-6 HCSB

There are three things we are told to never discuss in public and two of them are politics and religion. It’s certainly something I try to steer clear of in this blog. Tomorrow, however, many in our area will go to the polls to vote for local and state positions. Next year around this time, we will be voting on the next President of the United States. Our vote is important.

In our Scripture passage, Absalom wasn’t schmoozing these people out of genuine concern for their well-being. He wanted to be their next king. He was gathering support to take the throne from His father, David. We see a lot of this in politics today. We see men and women who will tell us anything to get the vote. They will promise all these great things, get elected, and do nothing but satisfy themselves.

Does this mean we shouldn’t even bother to vote? No, on the contrary it makes the votes of good Christian people even more important. So, first I want to encourage you to vote if you have not already done so. Secondly, I want you to spend some time in prayer. Pray for wisdom and discernment when you are seeing and hearing these candidates. Pray that God will help you to understand who the best man is for each position.

Look at their qualifications. Are they providing an honest representation of their past accomplishments? If there are problems in their past, are they confessing these and being up front? Are their viewpoints liberal or conservative? Are they an active church member or someone who has been going from church to church to try to get votes. All these things matter my friend.

Absalom was presenting himself as just what the Israelites needed. He was pointing out that his dad was just too busy and getting too old to help them as they needed to be helped. Of course, he told them if he were king things would be different. Absalom was a master manipulator. He manipulated his father, and he manipulated the Israelite people.

He intended to kill his own father to gain the throne. Of course, God had other plans and Absalom died in the battle against his father’s supporters. His dad remained king.

Ultimately God is in control. When you wonder who will win an election, you can rest assured it will be the one God wanted to win. Now there have been times, I have felt that God has punished our parish, state or nation with the man that was put in office as we richly deserved. There have also been a few times when I have thanked God for the man He put in charge.

Pray for wisdom and discernment. Pray for the wisdom to make the right choice when you vote. Pray for the candidates. When it is all said and done, accept the outcome. We are told in Romans 13:1 that every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist have been appointed by God.

When the votes are cast and counted, know that whoever won the election was put there by God. I believe some men win to lift us up and some are the price we pay. Either way, God’s will always prevails and we are to respect the authority of the person God put in charge.

If we want positive change in our area, parishes/counties, states and the country, it has to start with us. We must pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and always give thanks even when things don’t go our way. We must remember even in bad outcomes that God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose as we are told in Romans 8:28.

As a Christian, it is our duty to get out and vote. It’s our duty to pray about these elections and pray for the wisdom to discern who is the best person for the position. And when it is all said and done, it is our duty to not behave like a petulant child but to be respectful of those God has placed in authority.

We will talk about religion tomorrow.

Have a great day!