Yesterday I spent some time diving into Psalm 33. It’s a truly beautiful and amazing hymn of praise to God, and some thoughts occurred to me as I contemplated it. Like, why don’t the spirit Jedi just take care of the whole Empire/First Order thing by themselves? And, why didn’t the hair in my nose quit growing when the hair on my head did. But that’s not important right now.
Although there’s a TON of good stuff in Psalm 33 (I was specifically interested in verse 3, in light of this post), I really only want to look at a few specific verses. However, since I don’t want to be accused of “cherry-picking” verses, so you can read it in its entirety and in context, I’m going to quote it in full here.
1 Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. 16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Now my guess is that in a room of 10 self-professed evangelical Christians, 9 would say they 100% agree with everything this Psalm says. (The 10th would argue that we can’t use instrumental music in worship, or that we shouldn’t shout in worship, or that the other 9 guys are idiots, or something like that.) But here’s my question: If we take this Psalm literally and seriously, do we truly believe it? Do we live like we really believe it? Let’s see . . . .
Let’s start with verses 10 and 11.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
In verses 6-11, the psalmist is making the case that because the Lord is the Creator of all things, Who by His power imposed His order and plan on His creation, no power or combination of powers can thwart His plan and purpose to save His people. Specifically in verses 10 and 11, the psalmist says that even the plans of people and nations are helpless to thwart the plan of God. If we really believe this, then we must believe — we have no choice but to believe — that no political party, no party platform, no legislation, no judicial appointment, no election, and no individual choice regarding how someone votes, can thwart God’s plan. Specifically, none of those things can thwart God’s plan to save His people or His church. Or unborn babies.
Let’s revisit the actual text, in summary: the counsel (plan) of nations and people are nothing. The counsel (plan) of God stands. Not our plans. His.
Let’s move on to verses 13-15:
13 The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
If we are to believe this, we must recognize that God fashions the heart of “them all” — “them all” being all the children of man (v13) and inhabitants of the earth (v14). Not some. Not most. Not only Christians, or Republicans, or Democrats, or Americans. All. “All” in the Hebrew here means . . . all. So, God knows the deeds of all men, and fashions their hearts. By “fashions”, the psalmist means that God directs those hearts whichever way He chooses. That includes presidents, and judges, and legislators. We don’t do it. Our vote doesn’t do it. God does it. It’s His responsibility.
Verses 16 and 17 expand on this theme.
16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
In Old Testament writings, the king is typically used to refer to both the individual ruler, and also as a stand-in for the nation he rules. The psalmist is saying that a nation is not saved by the external evidences of strength. Notice that he doesn’t advocate the lack of strong warriors and war horses. To put it another way, he doesn’t say that Israel (or any other nation) shouldn’t have those things. Of course a nation should develop those resources. But that’s not where salvation lies. Salvation lies in the Lord, alone.
Likewise, America will not be saved by our great armies and navies. We should absolutely have those things, but we must not be fooled into thinking that those things are what will save us. They are likely the tools by which the Lord saves us from external enemies. However, sometimes he uses other means. In 1588 the 130-ship Spanish “Invincible Armada” was defeated not by the English navy, but by storms off the English coast. Storms. Not warriors or horses, or ships. God has an infinite arsenal at His disposal, and He can be very creative! I frequently think that we don’t give Him enough credit for creativity.
To extend the lesson, America also will not be saved by armies of voters, or strong campaigns, or social justice warriors, or “conservative” warriors. The vote, and the presidency, and the Supreme Court are all false hopes for salvation. The Lord is our only salvation. He goes on to make this explicitly clear in verses 18-20.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
Only God can “deliver their soul from death and keep them alive.” That includes, by the way, unborn babies. Judges can’t do that. Presidents can’t do that. Only God can. He alone is our “help and our shield.”
I believe much of the evangelical church in America has developed a messiah complex: we believe that it’s up to us to save America, and to save unborn children. We want God’s job. But there is only one God, and only one Savior, and it’s not us, and it’s not our vote. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. You can argue with that all you want (“But . . . but . . . but . . .”). What you can’t do is deny that all of Scripture testifies to the absolute sovereignty of God, and the immutability of his plan and decrees. To put it another way, God doesn’t need your vote to accomplish his plan for America and anything or anyone in it. To those who worship the vote, this is going to be enraging. To those who worship God, this should be a great comfort.
And as mysterious as it is, sometimes we don’t understand God’s plan, and why He does what He does. And, if we’re being honest, sometimes it looks pretty horrible from our perspective. Why does He allow unborn children to be murdered in the womb? I don’t know, but this isn’t a new development. He has allowed it throughout history (this is even in Scripture; you can look it up!), as a flaw in a broken world, and He has used it for His purposes. Why does He allow His people to be ruled by ungodly men? I don’t know. But this, too, is not a new development, and again, He has used those rulers for His purposes. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Now I guarantee you I’m going to get angry comments from people who think I’m advocating doing nothing in the political arena. I know this, because I’ve already gotten them from other posts. Let me be clear: I am not saying “Do nothing! Don’t vote! Let God take care of it!” That is fatalism, and that is not how the Christian faith works. The prophet Jeremiah clearly stated that we should be intimately involved in civic life.
7 ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’
Jeremiah 29:7
There is a dual command here: to pray, and to seek. Rather than getting on social media to condemn our political and social enemies, we are to pray. Question, how much are we praying for our nation? Not in just a general way, but in a specific way, not seeking to save the nation, but seeking God’s will for the nation (which is not necessarily, by the way, the same thing). How much are we praying specifically for President Trump? Or Mitch McConnell? (Lost my one liberal Democrat reader here.) Or Nancy Pelosi? Or Chuck Schumer? (Lost my “conservative” Republicans here.) Or the Supreme Court? Imprecatory prayers don’t count.
And then we are, in fact, to “seek” — to act. That means getting educated. Sort the truth from the lies and rumors, as wheat from chaff. And then, absolutely, vote. But vote with clear eyes and mind. Vote with knowledge and discernment. Vote as the Holy Spirit leads. But let’s be clear about our motivations. We vote to be a light on a hill, seeking mercy, righteousness and justice. (Micah 6:8.)
But we don’t vote to save anyone or anything. That’s not our job.
