Struggling with Voting or Leaving It All In the Lord’s Hands?

From John Sykes

I have always struggled with the paradox that says we should put it all in the Lord’s hands in spite of His giving us free will. This particularly digs at me when I frequently and loudly blare that as Christians we must be “in the world” of politics.

Paul de Vries in God and Election Day: Why Pray If You Can Worry? does a great job with this paradox:

Now, there are simply three options for us to handle this objective Biblical and experiential paradox: Some become "Arminian" and deny the multitude of Biblical and experiential evidences of God's sovereign grace and power. Some others become "Calvinist" and deny the multitude of Biblical and experiential evidences of human free-will and responsibility. However, I think it is far better to embrace this third, objective Biblical and experiential paradox: In God's extraordinary sovereignty, he created human free-will. We can faithfully trust the Sovereign Lord and his awesome, amazing Grace – while we fully embrace our awesome human responsibilities and free-will, too.

de Vries closes with:

Can we let God be God? Can we seek his wisdom and still freely choose? Can we pray and trust God – and still work hard for our favorite political candidates? Can we completely trust our Lord's sovereign authority and amazing grace – and still vote and live responsibly?

Let us invite all voting Americans to approach the November 6 elections in extraordinary peace, shalom. Why worry or fret? Instead, (1) please read the Scriptures honestly receiving God's principles, and in the Spirit's guidance (2) please pray for and trust bold Divine wisdom for our lives and times, (3) please consult with seasoned believers for their guidance, and (4) please vigilantly honor Jesus in the way you vote for our future leaders on November 6. Openly urge others to vote with you, too. After all, such Godly voting shows that the eternal principles matter, for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Otherwise, how can we pray?

After voting, put it all in the Lord Jesus' hands, where it has been all along. Then embrace the splendid paradoxical shalom he brings.

Carry these thoughts to the polls and take someone else with you for the best reason I can think of: It would seem God wants you to.