May 9, 2016

Pray For Politicians

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. -- 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Maybe you’ve noticed that we’re in the middle of a rather contentious presidential race. There’s plenty of finger pointing to go around.

It simply highlights what has been going on in our country for the last few years. We have a Congress that seems so intent on arguing that they can’t get much done. Except hold hearings. They hold lots and lots of hearings.

Honestly, sometimes they all seem inept. Whatever happened to common sense? Whatever happened to them being our representatives not political powerbrokers?

And whatever happened to praying for those who in authority?

This was part of our discussion yesterday and everyone agreed that praying for our politicians seems like a wasted effort. This mess -- and how can we call it anything else -- seems too far gone to fix. How can we turn these professional politicians into respected statesmen (or women) who know how to reach across the aisle and form a compromise that benefits everyone?

Maybe we are selling God short. Huh? Yeah. You read that right. We don’t pray because we don’t see a possibility of fixing it. We can’t. You and I. But God can. God can do anything. So if we truly believe that why aren’t we praying for Him to intervene?

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. -- 2 Chronicles 7:14

There it is. If we call on His name, if we repent and seek God, then He will heal our land. We want that. We’re quick to say that we want God to heal our land. But do we really?