When I awoke the morning after the presidential election and discovered Donald Trump had won, I thought it was a miracle. Not in the biblical sense of God manifesting His omnipotence, but in the sense his win was mystifyingly remarkable and unexpected, at least to me. Since Trump’s election I have been reading that some of the most vocal within the evangelical community think his election was a miracle of the first order, and not the second.
The mainstream media is mystified
The mainstream news media as mystified as I was, and trying to understand how Trump pulled it off, are trying to get into the mindset of the voting block they think was responsible, white evangelicals, to get some answers. They think some of the answers they have gotten represent the evangelical community and worse yet, maybe even God.
I think the liberal press is in the dark on this one because of the truism expressed in the childhood retort, “It takes one to know one.” By that I mean, many within the liberal press do not understand the evangelical mindset because for the most part they are not evangelicals.
An eye-opener
So let me open the eyes of those blinded by their liberalism, evangelicals did not vote for Donald Trump because of his sterling Christian character; they voted for him because they were terrified of a Hillary Clinton administration.
The liberal news media will be able to accept a political explanation for the results of the last election more easily than they can understand the idea of divine intervention, especially since many of their number seem to question His very existence.
But when evangelicals claim God made Trump President to supposedly correct the policies of Barak Obama they are suggesting that God took a break from running the universe when Obama was elected and that is theologically inconsistent. I don’t think God takes those kinds of breaks.
How God works
Based on my reading and understanding of the Scriptures, God sovereignly superintends the flow of human history, so that humans acting as free moral agents making decisions and doing things, both good and bad, are woven into the tapestry of circumstances inexorably culminating in His perfect will. I know that was a mouthful, but that is the way the universe rolls as I understand the Bible.
This means God, at times, in His mercy and grace works in, through and with humans to accomplish His will in the earth. In His grace, God works through us at times, and in His mercy, in spite of us at others. And this holds true for whoever the president is, Barak Obama or Donald Trump.
This is what was taught by Solomon, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes,” Proverbs 21:1. A king or president can ultimately do no more or no less than God allows. Donald Trump, as our president, is a very small part of a master plan that is supremely larger than his own ego.
I have often thought about this topic. We look at the disciples and those in the Bible who were never perfect and became Christian followers of Jesus. All are flawed. We are fallen, but we follow in His footsteps. I grieve for my country. The government corruption is unbelievable. Perhaps..through Trump shared Christian values might prevail.