THE ONLY POLITICAL MAXIM NEEDED

“There is one political maxim which comforts me: ‘The Lord reigns’” (Psalm 99:1). John Newton, 1725-1807

Newton, a slave ship captain and, for a time, a slave himself in Africa, became a great preacher and hymn writer (Amazing Grace). Not for a moment in his converted life did he forget that the sovereign grace of God alone plucked him out of darkest Africa and put him in a pulpit. He lived in a tumultuous time in England, not unlike America today, as the greatest military power on earth was being humiliated by the rebellious American colonies. It might not have been known by Newton at the time, but Pulitzer prize-winning author, David McCullough, details God’s sovereign grace in our War of Independence—from the extraordinarily prolonged fog in New York Harbor that let Washington’s army miraculously escape British entrapment early in the war, to the severe weather that kept the British Navy from arriving in time to rescue Cornwallis’s entrapped army at Yorktown, forcing his surrender. Often, at turning points in history, God makes his sovereign, controlling grace—His providence—apparent to the most casual observer. The pagan calls it luck. A child of God knows it is sovereign grace.

America is at a pivot point now and only God knows the outcome. But this I know: If it’s Trump by a bunch, God is sovereign.  If Biden triumphs, God is sovereign. If this longest running experiment in government by free men fails, God is sovereign. The God who promised no one can snatch me out of His hand (John 10:28) is sovereign and His promises unbreakable. That means “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6). That is certainty in an uncertain world. The Lord reigns and, especially at this pivotal point in our history, the knowledge thereof is the peace that surpasses all understanding.

See you in church.