What to do with your hands.  (The day after the National US Election)

Hello! 

Is your fist in the air, as a sign of ‘Yeah, our man won…the president has been reelected!’?  Or are you wringing your hands, feeling an overwhelming disappointment because your man lost?  Hmmm….what to do with your hands.

Early this morning, I got an e-mail from someone, suggesting I check out the various Facebook postings, as many folks are commenting how depressed they are as a result of the election outcome.  She was right … some actually seemed so overwrought they were unsure how to go on!  Siblings are ‘squaring off’, so to speak, because they feel they must talk about how they feel about the whole thing… there is tension out there, if nothing else.  For that reason, I feel compelled to address the rising current of emotion~ and once again, I find myself asking a profound question, ‘How then should we live?’

Well, may I be so bold as to suggest what you do with your hands?  Fold them and pray.  Pray for President Barack Obama and his cabinet, pray for Congress—that they would seek God’s wisdom in running this country, and do so in a more unified fashion.  Pray for the people of the United States of America, that they would turn their hearts toward God and seek him, that they would humble themselves and pray. 

Several weeks ago, I was invited to an afternoon prayer rally, held in a local city park.  I went.  It was for the sole purpose of praying for the election and our country, and there was a definite sense of urgency…(or was it fear?)  Let me just say that I hope the weekly prayer rallies will not stop—otherwise, what is the message?  We only need God’s help in our national affairs to determine the outcome of the election, but not on a regular basis?  Please. 

May I be so bold as to remind you who you are?  You are a child of the living God.  Our God was not caught off guard, my dear friend.   He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Psalm 121.4.   I invite you now to pray as David prayed, “You are my God.  My times are in your hand.” Psalm 31.14  “Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.”  Psalm 2.12b

So put your hands together, drop to your knees…whether you are in northern Nigeria or the Sudan, being persecuted by Muslims … or wondering where you might find Christ in a very secular Europe … celebrating or grieving the re-election of Barack Obama… as Christians, we must be in prayer for the favor of the Lord to rest upon us, and then … how about this, let us “trust in the Lord with all our hearts”, knowing that if “acknowledge him in all our ways, he will direct our paths”.  Proverbs 3.5-6

What to do with your hands … lift them to the Savior in prayer.  Amen.