Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.—Psalm 131:2
The election is over, give or take a few votes. It’s been a bitter, disruptive process that consumed our time and energy for more than a year. We should be glad that it’s over.
Perhaps your man lost and the other man won. “Let not your heart be troubled.” God knew the final count all along. And truth be known, he was integral in some inexplicable way in its outcome. We can trust his wisdom and judgment.
Our response is not mere resignation, but joyful anticipation, knowing that God is able to turn an event that seems to be irrevocably bad into eternal good, a result that J.R.R. Tolkien called a “eucatastrophe,” a comic (happy) ending to a tragic story that pierces us with joy.
We can have this happy and hopeful outlook only because we know that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). We may not see the goodness in every event, but we can know that God will accomplish his purposes in the end and his intentions are always and only good. (We live by faith and not by sight.)
This is a call for simplicity and humility. It evokes memories of the day that Jesus placed a little child on his lap and asked, ‘Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1-4).
David Roper
11.7.20
