Inside Out Living

My seven year old son is beginning to understand the larger world around him. The other night he asked if God was the president of the World? This was a very curious question and not one that was easily explained to someone with a second grade education.

He knows and firmly believes that God is in charge of the world and created everything we see. Every time he prays he thanks God for the whole world and for anything else that comes to mind. He has been learning in school about the inauguration of President Obama and about the role of the President of the United States. So to him it makes perfect sense that God would be President of the world because he knows that the highest position in our country is president. However as I tried to explain to him God is far greater than merely the president of the world. First I told him that God was more like a king than a president because nobody had to vote for Him for Him to be in charge. I think he understood, but for my son as for many Americans it is difficult to undertand what it is like to live under a king. However even that description of God falls short because kings can come and go and can be desposed of their power.

I got to thinking about this conversation when I read Proverbs 21:1 this morning. "The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he turns it wherever he pleases." (NLT) This proverbial truth helps us to keep in perspective that God is the one who is in sovereign control of the world regardless of who the leaders of the various nations are. This is not a debatable issue and whether you agree with it or not, it is still true.

This truth isn't always easy to work out in to the practicality of every day life because some national leaders are corrupt and oppress their people taking advantage of their power for their own personal gain. I think what will help us to reconcile that reality with the greater reality of God's sovereignty is to keep in mind that neither God's sovereignty nor his exhaustive foreknowledge of man's actions ever negate the responsibility of humans as free agents. So while God can and does direct the course of human events, He will always do this in accordance to the free decisions of humans.

This is why today is no different for me than last Thursday when Bush was still President. I struggle with understanding why so many of my fellow evangelicals get bent out of shape that we have a democratic president now. I think they lost sight of the fact that God is still the one in control regardless of who we vote in and acknowledge as our nation's leader.

Just some of my thoughts on the reaction to Obama's Inauguration. Love to hear your comments.