Man Votes But God Elects

There is an important vote before us. As with every election, we are pounded with the assertion that this is the most critical election in our lives. Everything hangs on how we manage or mismanage this event. We are supposedly in full control of our futurity, responsible for the direction of history.

This burden of being the directors of history, however, is made overly heavy. While we do have a vote, we may learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s story, that it is God who elects. It has always been God who has elected and ordained rulers, and the progress and direction of nations. God’s prospects for being the Most High were not diminished when men started voting. He was not dethroned as the Master of nations when ballot boxes were invented. The hysteria surrounding the vote and its outcome are as a looking glass into the soul of 21^st centuryAmerica. We are convinced it is we, and we alone, who set the course of the nation. There is a frantic spirit about us that claims responsibility, and at the same time fears we are not ready for it. As a nation we pace in the night of our own sin and darkened minds. We carry a humanist torch, but it lacks the fuel for light and wisdom only the Most High can supply.

It was 605 BC when fifteen-year-old Daniel was captured and marched toBabylon. At that terrible moment he and his companions had no earthly reason to exhibit great hope for their futures. Forced in stumbling ques, likely in fetters, he had no way of understanding the blessed life God held for him in that distant kingdom. He could not know how his own life would be forever contrasted with the king and kingdoms he would serve there, as a representative of “the Most High God.” From his inauspicious beginnings, Daniel quickly rose to prominence inBabylon. He served Nebuchadnezzar, his son Belshazzar, and then the Persian king Cyrus. In all, he was maintained as a high ruler in those kingdoms for around 70 years, throughout the entire time the Jews were captive in Babylon.

 Early in his career Daniel was brought before King Nebuchadnezzar, who had, had a dream. The fourth chapter of Daniel reveals a proclamation from the king saying,

 Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth; May your peace abound! It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.

How great are His signs,

 And how mighty are His wonders!

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And His dominion is from generation to generation.

 Yet, there was a dream. God had given a prophetic dream showing that the king would lose his honored position and go mad, eating grass like an animal for seven years. It was Daniel who interpreted the dream and warned the king. However, though admonished by Daniel to, “…break away now from your sins by doing righteousness, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity”, king Nebuchadnezzar refused to listen.

 It was one year later while walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, that

 the king reflected and said, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice from heaven, saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you…until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.

 So it was that this great king spent the next seven years with his hair grown out as eagle’s feathers and his nails like bird’s claws. His body was drenched in dew and he was driven from all mankind. Finally, he was given grace to repent and declare,

But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;

            For his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

            And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

But He does according to His will in the host of heaven

And among the inhabitants of the earth;

And no one can ward off His hand

Or say to Him, “What hast Thou done.”

It was Isaiah who declared concerning the Lord’s rule, “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales” (Isaiah 40:15). Proverbs 8:15-16 reads, “By Me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. By Me princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly.” We may understand from these specific statements of doctrine as well as from the stories of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar that the true God, the Most High, rules in the affairs of men. He sets kings on their thrones and presidents in the Oval Office.

 We are tempted to believe we are able to predict the future based on current events. Professional prognosticators advise the candidates and the nation with all assurance, what the direction in history will be, based on the outcome of our votes. They remind me of the magicians and sorcerers called before Nebuchadnezzar to interpret his dreams. They studied this and they discerned that, but could not lead him to any truth. The advisors to our high officials, to the nation, are about as useful. They do not know the future, nor the Lord of that future. Some declare white, economic magic, will occur if a certain candidate is elected. Another assures, the darkest forces of the dungeons will prevail if that same candidate gains the coveted position. There is an endless cacophony, as nymphs and dwarfs and satyrs, haggle and shriek and mutter.

 Shortly, we will use the gift of the vote God has given us. Our primary duty is not to control the direction of history. That work belongs to God alone, and He will not allow mere men to wrest from Him His control. Our work, is first, to declare by our vote, which kingdom we wish to advance. It is a declaration of citizenship. We have been commanded by our Commander in Chief, to seek first the kingdom of God and righteousness. Our eyes are on His flag and our oaths are to His nation, above all nations. It is why we cannot vote for godless men. It is the reason we will never vote for immoral men, or low men. If we will vote at all it will be for the righteous man, the Godly man, who can lead this country back to righteousness and its rightful King. We may be the remnant, but we will not be compromised.

 For Christian Culture,

 Don Schanzenbach  9-29-12