Photo by Philipp Waldhauer on Unsplash
Hello, dear readers! In America this can be a stressful time with an impending election, not to be equated with impending doom, looming on the horizon. But there is something else on the horizon – or rather, Some One, who brings hope. Ultimately, this article is about him. While my latest post does not directly address marriage and family, nonetheless, as we learn where to take our fear and how to forge ahead dispute current events, this creates unity and vision which will strengthen families and testify to future generations.
It’s that time of year again – election time. Or, election season, whichever you prefer. Less public debates between candidates than usual, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t private and public disagreement – which can be healthy. Part of living in a functioning society of functioning human beings is that we will not agree about everything all the time. That is one of the reasons that we need checks and balances in our system of government. That, and our fallenness. Which brings us back to the hand-wringing that can be part of this moment. Which isn’t always improved by the candy that is also floating around in late October. Why do we get so flummoxed, flabbergasted, and, to borrow the colloquialism, freaked out by elections? One of the reasons is our sense, as humans made in God’s image, that there is right, and there is wrong. It is right that we recognize this. But we can also get absolute right and wrong mixed up with what is better or less good, or even our personal preferences. We can also, even as we are working toward worthwhile goals, dim in our vision of the goodness and glory of The Giver of Every Good Thing. And when we dim in our vision of Who He Is, we also weaken in our witness to those to whom we are called to shine as lights pointing to the One who is the Light.
In the midst of swirling debates, changing times and tides, and true sorrow rising up from a waiting world, the answer is to follow the One who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Light. He is our Rescuer, our Refuge in a weary land and a Shelter in a time of storm – just like that good old song says.1 Jesus leads us to the safe harbor of our Heavenly Father’s arms, a place of security where we can both fight and rest bravely because we know the outcome is secure.2 Because of Jesus coming before us to make a way, and the eternal love surrounding his people even before his Advent we can experience peace that surpasses understanding in the present and always. We can rest knowing that God is for us, and he is with us. Through Christ we know God With Us, Emmanuel, and while he is for us nothing can stop us or shake our ultimate hope. Not physical winds and weather and not the outcome of election season.
Through Christ we have a reason to believe all year – not necessarily that everything is always going to go according to our plans (spoiler alert: probably it isn’t) – but that we have a hope and a future, and Salvation that will not put us to shame. Why? Because God said so – the God who loves his people so much he sent his son to die for them and who always tells the truth, never lies, and has prepared for us eternal joy beyond what we could even imagine now. But of course, the greatest joy is that we will be with him forever. Not only as we are now, but as we will be then, and not only near him as we are now, but enjoying an intensity of communion and peace with him and other believers that we have tasted here and from which we will drink even more deeply one day – one day when we are known as we are known – a time when we perfectly delight in him and in one another, and experience as he has planned for us to know the height, depths and breadth of his love for and delight in his blood-bought sons and daughters. That is a joy that will last not merely for four years, but for eternity.
And for all who know and love Jesus Christ, all of these things are ours by faith. Are they yours? Can your treasure be taken away by rulers on earth, or is it secure? Jesus Christ is our Rock and our shelter. He has prepared a place for us, and he is also returning as a conquering King. Will you be ready? Do you know him as your peace and your Defender? This is who he is for those who recognize that we have violated God’s holy standards in our thoughts, words, and deeds but who also look by faith to the sacrifice Jesus has made in bearing our sins for us, in our place, and rising again so that his people will also have joy in the morning and hope that outlives death and taxes. Look at what Jesus did in his death and resurrection, conquering sin and Satan, destroying destruction, and leading Captivity captive. Where he is, there is freedom that cannot die and peace that passes understanding. There is, paradoxically, the freedom of surrender, of following our Servant Leader as Servant Leaders under our captain, and laying down our lives so we can take them up again. Jesus promises that as we seek him we are laying up eternal treasure that cannot be shaken. Christ is our captain, our joy, our peace, and truly, nothing can take that away.
Jesus is Lord
Christ is King
Let all creation rise
and sing
he rules the nations
he reigns above everything
Let heaven and earth adore
Jesus our King!
~Emily Winslow Cox
Footnotes.
In Christ Alone by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. In Christ Alone lyrics, accessed 26 October 2024.
A Shelter in the Time of Storm by Vernon J. Charlesworth. https://hymnary.org/text/the_lords_our_rock_in_him_we_hide, accessed 26 October 2024.
verses referenced.
victory music:
God Calls it Good 