God Spoke

Many of my Christian friends have posted on facebook lately their strong conviction that, no matter how the 2012 presidential election turned out, God is in charge. God puts rulers into authority, and He removes them. Thus, the Tuesday night vote, although it looked like humans choosing someone, was actually God choosing someone.

My friends are saying that America has gotten the punishment we deserve. Obama is our punishment for our sin. And I agree with them that he is an awful president.

But there was a worse choice. I can't help seeing, in this election result, God's mercy. God was very merciful in preventing us from having a worse president.

Obama is a classic, old-fashioned sinner. He's a liar and power-grabber with a big ego. He's a classic pushy politician. He's not hard to figure out. But Romney? Ah, Mr. Romney is much more complex. Obama is a wolf in wolf's clothing; Romney is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Very nice sheep's clothing.

I ask myself: When God looked down on these two men, opting which to give to America for four years, what did He see? Obama, the sinner. Romney, the blasphemer. So He gave us the sinner, and was merciful in removing the blasphemer from the race. Praise the Lord!

We like to assess men and determine which is the worse of two evils, but God makes His own assessment. We decide which traits we find offensive in men, but God sees blasphemy, and most other things pale in comparison.

A man who truly, deeply believes that our Jehovah God was once an ordinary man -- just like us -- and that our God earned his place as God, that man is a blasphemer. A man who truly, deeply believes that he, a man, will someday also be a god -- just like Jehovah God! -- and will earn his place as a god, that man is a blasphemer.

And that didn't seem to bother a lot of my friends. "Whatever!" they said. "Look at Obama, the sinner!"

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

I understand my friends' dilemma. Last night, watching the returns, my heart ached as I watched Obama's numbers rise. I do not want him as president. My heart burned as I listened to the overwhelming media bias in Obama's favor. How unfair! But this morning, when I realized that my God had spoken, and He had said, "Not the blasphemer," I was thankful for His mercy.