Does God Care Who's President

            George W. Bush did not win the popular vote in 2000. There are those who say he would not have won Florida (and therefore the election) either but for confusion in the voting booth in several key districts (remember the dimpled chads?). A chance happening that resulted in a president most Americans didn’t vote for? Or Divine confusion of Floridians’ thinking like the confusion of language at Babel? I don’t know. I’m not a prophet and God never claimed to be a Republican. I certainly believe that God acts in the world today, and I believe He can raise a man to power according to His will. But when it comes to politics and current events, I always stop short of saying, “This was God’s doing.” Anyone who does claim to assign Divine cause or purpose to such big moments in history is either truly a prophet or incredibly arrogant.

        What I can know is what the Bible says about God’s involvement in political affairs. Paul tells us that human governments ultimately come from God: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). There you have it: all governments are established by God. Wait a minute—all governments? Even evil governments? Yes. Remember to whom Paul was writing: Christians in Rome who lived under a government that would eventually persecute them. God doesn’t want evil governments to be evil—the evil is in the sin choices of individuals who run governments. But even a bad government ultimately serves God’s purpose of establishing order and law, however imperfectly.

            Back in the 80’s, with the rise of the “Moral Majority” and a return of Christian political activism, many of us believed God would turn America around, make ours a godly nation again, and do so through the constant defeat of the Democratic party by Republicans following a moral platform that agreed with biblical truth. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but it isn’t far from the truth. Then something happened: Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992. That was the moment that many Christians started re-thinking the place of political involvement in the Christian life. I certainly wondered what God had in mind in “letting” Clinton win. Was this the government God wanted for America? Really?

Micah’s Message

           During that time I was reading the book of Micah, and I learned something about the way God governs nations. Micah is a very political book. In chapter one, God is angry at Israel and Jerusalem—Micah visualizes God descending to destroy the city (1:3-4). In chapter two Micah begins to explain why God is angry: the rich are victimizing the poor (2:1-2). In chapter three God’s anger is turned toward the rulers of the city—leaders, priests and prophets all (3:9-11). In chapter four Micah gives us an apocalyptic vision of how God will remake Jerusalem into a city of righteousness and goodness (4:1-8). Much suffering will come as God brings about His epic vision (4:9-13), but God’s people should prepare for the battle to come (5:1). And then something amazing happens. Micah has built the story of God’s political rule in the world up to a huge climax only to follow it with Micah 5:2:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”

            Here is a little verse that we only read at Christmas to see where Jesus was born. But it means so much more. It means that, in the midst of great nations, of political upheaval, of Divine wrath and the promise of sweeping changes in the way the earth is governed in the future, God’s ways are not ours. How does He bring about political revolution in the world? He starts in a town so small that it didn’t even count, in a country so insignificant that the great empires of the world tended to ignore it—and He starts with a little baby born in a barn who would grow up to change the world.

            God’s politics are different from ours. It was true in biblical times and in 1992: during his presidency Bill Clinton supported and signed the Freedom of Religion Act so that believers who worked in government could have crosses in their cubicles, Bibles sitting out on their desks, and talk freely about what they believed.

            As I write this, I don’t know who our new president is. But I also know it doesn’t matter, because God is the one in control.