INTRODUCTION
As I write this letter, many of you have already cast votes in the 2024 election. I know this because many of you have sent pictures of you and your kids standing in line at the polls. Praise God. This week, I want to exhort you to prayer and preparation for the future. First, prayer.
PRAYER IN TROUBLOUS TIMES
Essentially, the Old Testament book of Habakkuk is the record of one man’s prayers and God’s answers. It’s about processing evil times through prayer. The prophet, Habakkuk, asks God how long he would have to pray before the Lord would hear him. How long would violence and destruction run rampant while God was idle? How long would justice be paralyzed? (Hab. 1:1-4) For years, Israel had turned from the Lord, disobeyed his commands, neglected the poor, and gone after false gods. The Lord had already used Assyria as an instrument of divine judgment to conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel. (Isa. 7) Habakkuk, as a faithful man, desired to see spiritual renewal in his nation and prayed to that end. But the Lord’s answer to his prayers shook him to the core.
Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. (Hab. 1:5-7)
Essentially, the Lord said to Habakkuk: “It’s going to get worse.” In the ensuing years, the Lord would not remove the Assyrians in order to restore Israel. Instead, he raised up the Babylonians to make the Southern Kingdom of Judah desolate, destroy the temple, and carry the people into exile. The rest of Habakkuk shows us how the prophet, a faithful man, responded to God’s plan to bring evil times. Habakkuk wrestles with God in prayer. He knows that God is holy, pure, and undefiled with evil. (Hab. 1:13) How then can God use an evil nation like Babylon as an instrument of justice? God can do this because, eventually, the Lord will judge the Babylonians as well. In fact, God will judge all evil, and the only ones who will escape God’s divine wrath are those who live by faith. (Hab. 2:4) How does Habakkuk respond to such a grim forecast?
First, he accepts God’s right to judge evil as he sees fit. If the Lord has ordained evil years of judgment on a rebellious people, then so be it. The rebellion of the nation must be shaken until it crumbles, and Habakkuk doesn’t want premature deliverance. He asks the Lord to do whatever it takes to remove idols. But he also asks the Lord to remember mercy in the years of wrath. (Hab. 3:2) This shows us that even times of great national convulsions can also be times of mercy. National tumult reveals idols in the land that remain hidden during times of peace. Therefore, because he values repentance more than national tranquility, Habakkuk prays that God would send the shaking mercy of tumult.
Christian, regardless of the outcome of the 2024 election, it will not be the case that our nation has returned the Lord. We live in a rebellious nation. We have forgotten Christ: his law and his gospel. A majority of American citizens support the “right” to slaughter babies in the womb. Our leaders will continue to spend money we don’t have. The fight against those who deny the nature of male and female will continue. We must adopt the attitude of Habakkuk: Lord, do what it takes.
Second, Habakkuk waits and rejoices in what cannot be shaken: the Lord, our strength.
I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:16b-19a)
The Christian hope is not the transformation of this world. The Christian hope is Jesus Christ, his person, and his finished work on the cross. It is not our responsibility to restore what Adam lost in the Fall. It is our responsibility to treasure the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, to live according to his law, and to publish his gospel to the ends of the earth. The church is a glorious counter-culture living among the nations of the world. We are heavenly citizens sojourning through 21st-century America. The coming kingdom of Christ does not in any way depend upon what we do. Knowing that we belong to Christ and that his kingdom will inexorably come frees us from anxiety or inordinate fear concerning the trajectory of our nation. Christians can be courageous, even to the point of facing lions because we know that we are not the hope of the world: Christ is. Church, read Habakkuk. Pray like Habakkuk during these tumultuous times.
PREPARATION FOR TROUBLOUS TIMES
This will be my last letter from the pastor geared directly toward the 2024 election. Next week I will begin a series of letters on Biblical justice. As we move on from the subject of politics many of you will want to learn more about the subject from a Christian perspective. Below, I’m providing a short bibliography to help you mature in this area. Use this list to prepare for the days ahead.
Slaying Leviathan – An excellent and brief historical summary of the Christian doctrine of limited government.
A Christian Manifesto – Understanding the dangers of statism and a charge for Christians to oppose a materialist worldview.
Liberty in the Things of God – A history of the earliest church embrace of religious liberty.
Lex Rex: The Law & the King – Puritan Samuel Rutherford shows that the king is not above the law and must submit to it.
The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates – A summary of the Reformers’ political theology of resistance and a repudiation of unlimited obedience to civil government.
Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos: Defense of Liberty Against Tyrannts – Written by an anonymous French Huguenot, this powerful tract makes for why Christians can sometimes lawfully resist and fight against tyrants.
The Declaration of Independence – Every American Christian ought to own and familiarize themselves with this founding document.
The Constitution of the United States – Every American Christian ought to own and familiarize themselves with this founding document.