During the 2020 election season, and leading into 2021’s Inauguration, a dear friend told me about a struggle they were having knowing what to pray for. They felt truly conflicted, unsure what, in the chaos of developments and goings on, was God’s doing vs. man’s, and they struggled with anxiety over possibly praying against what God was working or allowing.
My advice to them was the same prayer I’d prayed myself throughout election season and beyond: “Your will be done.”
When feeding on a steady diet of mankind’s plots, plans, and aspirations, we can very easily forget that it isn’t their counsel that stands eternal. While peoples may rise and fall, bringing about times of strife for the world and for God’s children in particular, the fact remains that their plans are not paramount to God’s. There is not a nation in existence with the capability to thwart God’s ultimate purposes. Through the bloodiest of battles and most harrowing of hardships, we serve a faithful God. We serve Yahweh, whose plans stand to all generations.
Of course, not everything that happens is God’s will—and that’s why it’s important to wage spiritual warfare in prayer for His will to be done. It’s also important to address injustice and wrongdoing where we see it. But for those things that seem so far out of our hands, let’s always remember that we know, absolutely and without doubt, whose word and will triumphs in the end: God’s.
We can’t afford to let ourselves get caught up day-by-day in the distractions of what this nation or that person is plotting. We need to keep our eyes always fixed on the eternal and spiritual perspective, and make sure that our energy is spent in those crucial places—not getting blown around by every wind of change and whisper of harm that might graze our ears.
Our God is good. Like the psalmists of old recognized when they faced times of bitter trial, hardship, and yes, even difficult social and political climes, our lives are in His hands. This is why the words of Scripture like Psalm 33 are so powerful. They serve as a reminder that our eyes should be on Yahweh, that we must fear Him, not man. Those who fear Yahweh, rather than putting their trust in what man or weapon or steed can do to save them, are the ones who are saved from the grave. The ones who trust His faithfulness find redemption.
So join me today in praying for God’s will to be done, regardless of what any nation or person schemes. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on Him and our hearts and minds in tune with His leading—and then move accordingly, so that we too are catalysts for His will, His eternal counsel.
