14 “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:14-15
Dear God, here is another one that I assume Bible Gateway chose for election day. There are so many people who have made an idol out of this day. A pastor, writing about the days leading up to the 2012 election yesterday to our local ministerial association, wrote, “…each place I went, it was the same. There was someone saying, ‘If ______ doesn’t win EVERYTHING [emphasis his] is over.’ It didn’t get better at my next stop: ‘Unless _______ , we are doomed.’ On both sides, the anxiety was palpable, and being the anxiety magnet that I am, by the time I left the office, I was carrying not only my own fears, but what felt like a whole community’s.”
Later he wrote after describing going away to a place in nature, “…something strange happened. I became aware of a voice. I didn’t hear it through my ears, but in my body. It was a voice telling me, ‘I’ve seen a few of these before…You are going to be alright.'”
It is so easy for us to put our hope in ourselves, our societal constructs like government, and in anyone who promises to keep us safe, fat, and happy. The interesting things about you as our God is that you don’t really promise us those things. You don’t promise us physical safety. You don’t promise us food. You don’t promise to fulfill our wildest desires. The only thing you promise is that a relationship with you will nurture our souls. If we attach our branch to your vine and till the soil to root out the thorns (aka, the cares of this world), then you will bear fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, and self control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, that’s why I’m here this morning. I’ve voted, but I am not going to concern myself with who is going to win elections today. I am one of over 300 million people in this country. I am not as important as my ego would like to be. I am one of 27,000 people in the county where I live. I am not as important as my ego would like to be. So help me to just be a source of your Spirit living in this community. Your people are your Plan A and you do not have a Plan B. Help me to be the best part of your Plan A that I can be–for your glory alone.
I pray this through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,
Amen