Take joy my King in what You hear: may it be a sweet sweet sound in Your ear.
Let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name. (Laurie Klein; Heb. 13:15 NLT)
Beyond the often-unpleasant rhetoric and counterarguments that have so often soured the political sphere in America, and even spiritual scene too, there lie the airwaves that carry all the noise of the election. We have been deeply concerned to pray into the effects of all the argument and contention swirling around both individuals and the fabric of democracy itself. But the very act of focusing in on Donald Trump in particular, although it is for the purpose of prayer, could mean we inadvertently become ensnared by the path that leads to idolatry.
May we never forget that the Lord is listening out to hear the pure clear sound of hearts and lips tuned to His heart and word. Far above all the uproar of election battles, Heaven is sounding a very different name, and reverberating with an altogether more wonderful sound. There is a time for soaring high, and singing from the heights.
Donald Trump. A name that seems to have acquired the status of some kind of magic spell, conjuring up all manner of visions and announcements. Millions upon billions of words racing out across the airwaves, probing upwards into space to the satellites orbiting earth, bouncing back down to the land, snaking their way under the sea through the internet cables, calling out this one name, howling it high or pitching it low, roaring out in jubilation or terror, hope or frustration, gladness or despair. Donald Trump. Donald TRump, Donald TRUmp, TRUMp, TRUMP, TRUMP . . .
Millions march to the beat of this thrumming name, as surely as millions react strongly against it. Somehow, it has become the sound of political chambers, news rooms, staff rooms, living rooms, and even prayer cells right across the world. How is it that the name of a mere man is sounding so loud, and being writ so large?
Here is a deeply narcissistic and polarising figure, a magnet that either attracts or repels. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. Very large sections of the evangelical church in America see in Trump some kind of messiah, one sent to save America, the unborn child, young people suffering from gender dysphoria, and who will ‘help the Lord’s servant, Israel’ . . . while others take quite the opposite view, and see him rather in anti-Christ terms as one who ‘considers himself superior and ‘who causes deceit to prosper,’ and who exalts not the meek and humble as the true Messiah does, but rather the rich and the strong, and who has no compunction in hurling the hungry and the homeless away and empty-handed. (Dan. 8:25; Lk. 1:50-55)
With Trump set to resume his seat shortly in the Oval Office – long considered the preserve of Democracy’s Throne – politicians of all shapes and sizes who were erstwhile dismissive of him when they through that the page had turned and moved on from him are now scurrying to ingratiate themselves afresh with him, sinking their integrity in the face of the new real-politick, and singing their lines dutifully from the new copy book.
But as we watch and listen to these distorted and disturbing sounds – and add our own count of words to all that is reverberating through the atmosphere – what about the rhythm of our own hearts? What channel and whose beat are they set to? The desire for stability, the desire for influence and favourable outcomes is strong in all of us, and there is nothing wrong in this, provided only that it be not tainted with any overlay of greed or idolatry, and that we are willingly tuned to move as the Spirit-wind ‘listeth.’ (John 3:8; Rom. 8:14)
Politicians are people just like us, and even the best rules and regimes that they imagine or impose can only reach so far. Those of us whose focus lies rather in praying, ‘Your Kingdom come, Father; Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,’ hold a vision in our hearts that no political system can possibly fulfil or bring about, for we are not signing up to some mythical political ideal, but are seeking the Father’s Heavenly Kingdom, which will one day be over all, and which will abide for ever.
Commentators tend toward apocalyptic language when a new administration comes to power – by which they mean they expect the end of things as we have known them. There is certainly a very acute awareness that many things really will never be the same again following this election, for the American electorate has landed a man in the White House intent on changing the face and fate of the whole apparatus of government.
Apocalyptic this reign will most surely be, even, we fear, to the extent of bringing about great destruction. But the wonderful truth of the word ‘apocalypse’ is that it means not destruction but an unveiling: a peering through a rent in a veil or a curtain to see the things that lie beyond. When John used it of the visions that Jesus Christ gave him, concerning events at the end of time, he did so with its original meaning in mind: unveiling or uncovering, revealing and disclosing.
In point of fact, you could argue that the book of Revelation is less about the destruction of this world than about the glorious renewing of all things! But both senses of the word are true in the aftermath of the election: we are indeed living in times when much is being destroyed, but also in apocalyptic revealing times; days when seeds sown generations ago are bearing new fruit.
This is not simply a revealing that takes place at a governmental or societal level. The election has exposed things in the heart of the Church, and perhaps in our own hearts too. Is there anything the Lord would show you? Anything you would ask Him?
Lord, what do You find revealed in me? What fruit is there? What do You see preoccupying my thinking and my hopes? Does my light burn for You? Do I sound like You?
It takes time to let the Holy Spirit probe our hearts in this way, and to reveal to us what He finds there. And then there is almost invariably a work of repentance to be done, as well as gratitude for the things that we can see that are of God.
Because there is a Name more beautiful by far than Donald Trump, though it too polarises us. A Name that is hallowed throughout the universe, a Name before which every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, a Name that is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, far above every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Lk. 11:2; Eph. 1:21; Phil. 2:10)
Jesus, Immanuel
Jesus, Lamb of God
Jesus, Alpha and Omega
Jesus, King of the Jews
Jesus, Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace
Jesus, Bread of Life, Light of the world and Hope of all nations,
Jesus, Redeemer and Saviour
Jesus, Living corner stone
How awesome the roll call by which the first of the four evangelists charts and presents Yeshua as the fulfilment of all that God promised through Abraham! How clearly signposted and ‘marked’ are the deeds of the long-prophesied Messiah in the second of the evangelists! In the third, we ‘luke’ and see Him portrayed as belonging to both time and space in the body prepared for Him.
And then, in the magnificent opening words of the fourth, John invites us to come up higher and see the Lord soaring high above Earth and even time, revealing Himself as the very Word of God, uncreated, the Light and Life of men and women everywhere, God become flesh and blood and living in our midst, yet all the time the Alpha and the Omega, who, when the times reach their fulfilment, will draw all things to a close, and all things in Heaven and on Earth under His own divine headship. (Eph. 1:10)
Jesus, it is You who are the centre; You are the star around which all luminaries must rotate, Yours alone the Name by which we are to be saved, Yours is the judgment seat before whom we must all appear – for Yours is the glory, and Yours the Name that resounds throughout the courts of the Lord at the heart of Heaven’s eternity.
Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and strength, to our God, to the ages of the ages!
Amen.
Sounding Jesus’ Name
1) Taste in the air (Heal our Land) Politics can fill people’s hearts and minds, but it would be a false criteria expectation to suppose that of itself it can heal our land. Better by far to enter into this deep and powerful cry that Carol Lee Sampson recorded with us a few years ago.
2) I love this powerful song too, for it is a reminder that there is ‘No other name, but the name of Jesus’ by which we can be saved. (Acts 4:12) (Don Moen)
Such a fulsome and helpful commentary on the present situation in the US. Came across this as I’ve been singing “Come down O love divine ” in my head for the last couple of days. Can’t remember the last time we sang it in church,(Bradford UK) but grew up with it
What fabulous words as well as poetry, but that desire to be full of the Holy Spirit in a way that honours Him and not shining a light on our poor attention seeking souls. . Thank you for your clear thoughts.ay the Lord give you continuing clarity. Blessings from the UK