Many themes run through the Christian Bible: grace, forgiveness, concern for the suffering, love for neighbors, the pursuit of holiness. One theme that stands out clearly is the inscrutability and transcendence of God. In a passage in the book of Isaiah, God declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways … As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Although Christians believe that God reigns supreme over history and will direct things to their proper end, the meanings of individual events are much more difficult to discern. For this reason, Christians are not quick to attribute natural disasters as a sign of God’s judgment on a particular place. We don’t believe that one can count the number of Christians on a sporting team and then give the team with the most Christians the victory. The world is more complicated than that. We are not always sure why some people get sick and their prayers for healing are answered, and why some people get sick and die. Promising prosperity and declaring a secret knowledge about the purposes of God have always been ways to gain applause, power, and money, but they are also dangerous and potentially heretical.
If all this is true of illness and catastrophe, how much more so of a presidential election? I know that more people cast their vote for Donald Trump than for Kamala Harris, and for that reason he was inaugurated yesterday. I cannot with confidence speak about God’s intervention in the matter. I was surprised, then, to hear the invocation at the inauguration attribute the outcome of the 2024 election to God’s positive will for America, and as an occasion for praise. That strikes me as hubris because it assumes the ability to know God’s opinion on an event in history.
The story of Israel’s first king might be instructive. According to the narrative in the Bible, the people of Israel were often defeated by surrounding countries with better fighters. Therefore, the people asked for a king that was like the kings of other nations around the world. God gave the people exactly what they wanted, not as a sign of favor but in part as an act of judgment. Saul’s reign was long and troubled and ended in disaster, even though he came as an answer to the people’s request. One lesson from this event is that sometimes God allows people’s worst instincts to flourish so that they see the full error of their ways. According to the Bible, God later chose a different king, David, whom the people did not ask for or initially want.
The story of David and Saul, and the wider story of God, should make Christians cautious when trying to interpret events. There is just too much we do not know. Was the election of Donald Trump an occasion of God giving people what they want as a form of judgment, as with King Saul, or was it the raising up of God’s chosen, as with David? For a variety of character reasons, I am confident it is not the latter. God has already raised up the greater David—Jesus—and humanity is no longer in need of a savior. Still, I can’t say that Trump’s return to the White House is the result of God’s judgment upon America. History is too messy to make such plain proclamations.
I do know that Christians are commanded to pray for rulers and those in authority, because the more power a politician has, the more influence he wields in people’s lives. I will pray for Donald Trump just as I prayed for Joe Biden before him. Those prayers ought to have a certain focus: that our leaders use their power wisely to protect the vulnerable and establish justice for all.
And when a member of the clergy is given the honor of praying in front of a leader, the prayer should not merely evoke a kind of divine mandate but remind the leader of his solemn responsibility. We serve those in power well when we help them remember there is someone to whom they must give an account. A good prayer for a person in power ought to leave them with knees trembling rather than head nodding.
I have strong disagreements with this president and his administration. I had strong disagreements with the previous administration as well. But I will pray for Donald Trump, because for good or ill, the fate of this president and the lives of so many here and abroad are now linked. Lord, have mercy.
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