So … the midterms happened.
My guess is that most of you reading this are as disappointed as I am.
I’ve found myself caring more about the economy lately than I ever have. I care about all issues, but social issues have always been closest to my heart. Nevertheless, if you’re wired like I am and are naturally drawn to social issues, then we should consider that providing for your wife and kids is a moral issue too. After all, it is written in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
Does that necessarily mean that it’s your fault if you’re having a hard time paying the bills for your family? Not if you’re doing your part. Sometimes things like inflation and taxes work against you, even though you’re doing what you should. In times like that, you simply have to do your best, take the opportunities that you can, manage what you have well, and trust God for the rest.
It's on that note that I wanted to write today.
A big part of the reason why Americans are suffering so much right now is bad fiscal and monetary policy by our federal government (and, as my colleague Justin Bogie has repeatedly observed, by our state government as well). While we couldn’t take back the White House, we could have taken back Congress and governorships in overwhelming numbers. Commentators were talking about a “red tsunami,” and poll numbers certainly seemed to be indicating that it was coming. But as the night went on, the likelihood of a red tsunami was reduced to a red wave. And at this point, it looks more like a red trickle.
Dang.
Elections aren’t for another two years. So what can we do in the meantime?
Well, we can do what we should have been doing all along: making the basis of our hope the goodness of God more than the goodness of government.
Psalm 146:3, 5 says, “Do not put your trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God.”
Human history is filled with government trying to be God and failing drastically. In contrast, God is on His throne, regardless of whether government is good or bad.
When Israel went through the desert and lacked such basic necessities as food and water, God brought water out of the rock and made bread fall from the sky (Exodus 16-17.) When the three Hebrew youths were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace for refusing to bow down, God kept them from being burned up (Daniel 3). And when the Son of God laid down his life for us and breathed His last, God raised Him from the dead.
If God can do all of that, then why can He not take care of us, even when government makes life hard? As Jesus reminded us on the Sermon on the Mount: If God takes care of even the sparrows and the grass, then He also will take care of us (Matthew 6:25-34).
Now if you’re reading this and thinking that God owes all of this to you, take care that real grace isn’t confused with cheap grace. God does love us, but the problem is we do not love Him. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul writes in Romans 6:23. Therefore He sometimes uses hardship to bring about repentance, at which point He gives grace to those who repent and believe. I fear for my country that we say, “In God We Trust,” when times get hard, but we do not say, “To God We Will Yield” when confronted with the reality of sin. Why should He bless us if we are living in open sin against Him? But as John Adams said when asked if we could prevail in the Revolution, he replied, “Yes, if we fear God and repent of our sins.”
Regardless of what happens next, God is still on His throne. He can protect. He can provide. He can make us thrive even in the midst of terrible government and even a terrible economy. To Him should we bow the knee, and if we do, from Him we can expect what we need.
Matt Clark is the President of the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. His column appears every Friday in 1819 News. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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