Voting With an Eternal Perspective

Last week the mail carrier delivered my August Primary Election ballot and the accompanying Voter’s Pamphlet with information about all of the candidates and issues. As I have never voted strictly along party lines, to say that the task ahead of me is daunting would be an extreme understatement. With 28 candidates for Governor and 11 for U.S. Senator, it is tempting just to skip the voting process altogether. What average citizen really has the time and energy to fully research each candidate and make an informed and responsible decision?

I’m trying to be thankful for the privilege I have in our country to cast a vote and supposedly be a part of the election process. But ever since I moved away from the small town that I was raised in, where I knew at least something about each of the candidates, it has been increasingly difficult to figure out who to vote for. And now that I live in the most populous and most liberal county in the state, the task seems impossible. I used to feel that my vote actually made a difference, but now it is easy to become apathetic.

The truth is, I can think of much better things to spend my time on than politics. And while I hope I don’t sound un-American, there is also this truth: no decisions we humans make in the political arena will have any bearing on what God intends to accomplish in our country or the world. God is sovereign and always will be; and Romans 13:1 makes it clear that only He is actually in charge of who gets elected: “For there is no authority except that which God has established, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”  

This can be a hard verse to accept in a world that contains evil because it means that the reigns of people like Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein or the Roman emperors Nero and Caligula were ordained by God. And it means that the battle between parties and candidates in American politics is of little consequence and wields no real power. But for someone like me who is interested in being a good citizen while also being disinterested in most political things, this verse is comforting. It means that Someone bigger and smarter than me is in charge and that nothing I do or don’t do can stop or change His ultimate plan. And even when God’s way of doing things doesn’t make sense to me, this verse also reminds me that my God is definitely more important to trust in than my nation.

So I will go back to the task at hand and try my hardest to make intelligent and informed choices as I fill out my ballot. But I will continue to rest in the truth of God’s sovereignty and be grateful that Jesus has won the battle and that I know how it all ends, regardless of what the so-called “powers-that-be” do between now and then.