“PUT NOT YOUR TRUST IN PRINCES”
This blog is not intended to make any “political” judgements over the extraordinary event of the election last week. Such judgements are all over the papers and still continuing! I have found some of them to be very helpful, but the fact is that I have very little of the political “background” that would make any comments of mine of any great value. What I do know, however, is that this election will go down in history as something that was extraordinary, perhaps even unique! The consequences have yet to been seen and assessed, but the possibilities are legion, and frightening! This was a game changer election!
My eye has been less on the political parties than on stability in our national political institutions (for reasons that I will return to), and I must confess that after the dramatic defeat of David Cameron’s referendum gamble and his consequent resignation I was very thankful that the Tories managed to sort themselves out and provide someone in the person of Theresa May who prevented a wholesale slide into what could easily have been political mayhem. Unpopular with many (what politician isn’t?) she nevertheless sought to bring a strong, determined lead to a nation which had made a momentous, bitter and polarising decision over Europe. The ship of state seemed to regain its stability, even if many frantically thought it was sailing in the wrong direction, and even if the future was fraught with difficulties. However, I felt a great sense of relief and thankfulness for such stability (it was in sharp contrast to what was currently happening in the U.S. political world!). That stability has now been lost; we find ourselves again in a position where political chaos, confusion and in-fighting threaten. This “strong” leader made the wrong decisions in the wrong way at the worst time (though, of course, a good many are rejoicing that she made those mistakes, chaos or no chaos!!) “Put not your trust in princes”!
Why do I keep my eye primarily on the issue of political stability? The fact is that historically speaking political confusion and instability of the kind we are facing is a very serious and lamentable position for any nation. It is also dangerous. It can paralyse government activity at critical moments and it can open a door for extremism and autocrats or demagogues when things get really out of hand. Instability is particularly dangerous when a nation faces an issue of the magnitude and complexity of Brexit for which clarity of intent and unified purpose is essential. It is even more dangerous when opinion still remains so bitterly divided over the issue of Brexit.
Interestingly we are not alone in this instability. The United States has been living with it for some time now. The Democratic Obama Presidency has been non-functional with the two Houses of the Senate and Congress, both Republican, making any legislation either impossible or extremely difficult. With Donald Trump as President, his erratic and impulsive behaviour has probably made the situation even worse. Confusion reigns, despite his façade of strong action. Paralysis of government in the world’s most powerful nation is not good. One could list other nations in the world where confusion is to be found, and not a few where conditions are chaotic.
We could, however, view all this instability in a much larger context. For instance we could ask the question; “Where is God in all this?” That, of course, seems to be a rather ludicrous, not to say irrelevant question to pose. God and politics don’t mix! At least they shouldn’t do! God is God, and politics is politics. God, if he is there, doesn’t do politics; that’s for us. That is perhaps the unthinking de fault position even of a great many Christians. But that’s not quite in line with the Scriptures. They tell us, “The Lord watches the nations”: He weighs the nations, he judges the nations, he it is who raises up rulers and puts down princes. He is the God who brought Israel out of Egypt and destroyed Pharaoh, he is the God who raised up the Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs and let them take Israel back into exile. He is the God who raised up Cyrus and redeemed Israel once again. He is in the flow of history, and he is in the demise of nations and he is in their prosperity. He blesses and he punishes. Strong and righteous government is his blessing; weak and evil government, along with confusion and instability is his punishing.
Thinking over these present confusions I have been going back in my mind to a position I arrived at whilst studying Amos. Amos prophesied the demise of Israel some twenty to twenty five years before it actually happened. When he first prophesied its destruction, God was just stirring up a dormant Assyria through a very active and ambitious ruler. It took all those twenty or so years for that ruler to be in a position where he could terrify and conquer the nations of the Middle East, Israel included. In those intervening years Israel, oblivious to the prophet’s warnings, pursued its own self-seeking way, ignoring God and his calls for righteous behaviour – it was consumed with pleasure seeking and increasing corruption and greed. As far as the political scene was concerned one thing about those intervening years was very plain to see: they were years of political instability, incompetence and corruption. Amos began his prophetic work under a very strong and able king, Jeroboam, but when he died the rulers who followed were of much inferior capacity. The first year saw two of them murdered in the power struggle that ensued. Government changed hands rapidly. It remained unstable and incompetent, and its policies toward the growing threat of Assyria were disastrous. The fact of the matter was, however, that judgement had already started and was evident in Israel’s increasing confusion and incompetence at the political level. God was very much in the unstable and unsavoury happenings and political processes of those years. Those very happenings were part of the very warning God was seeking to bring to a godless nation.
I fear lest the political confusions and chaos with which we have to face up to in the tortuous negotiations in front of us should in fact be part of the displeasure that God has indicated toward our nation. It is extremely perilous future we face: far beyond human competence! As far as Brexit is concerned it could turn out to be either a blessing or a catastrophe. That outcome will not depend upon our politicians. We have to reckon with the God of the nations. He deals with nations according to their righteousness and their acknowledgement of Him. Our clever, opinionated analyses of what will happen and our carefully laid plans will not in the end decide the issue. The favour of God alone is sufficient, and that means faith in Him and righteousness of living.
“Put not your trust in princes – put your trust in God.”
Bob Dunnett
