Trump Wins…Where is Your God Now?
Trump Wins
I wrote this post the day after Trump was elected, but I decided not to post it, in order to let some of the emotion die down. I figure now is a good time.
Donald Trump stunned everyone, or more precisely, America stunned everyone by electing Trump as the next POTUS. Normally I avoid politics on the blog and on social media, but I partook of the show during the US election. A friend of mine, who happens to identify as a “progressive socialist” and is an outspoken, formerly Christian, atheist, asked the question on Facebook, “Where is your God now?”
Being one of the only Christians friends he has on Facebook, I took his post to be directed at me. It may not have been, but someone had to answer him… This is what he wrote in context (expletives have been censored)…
He views Donald Trump as evil, based on his treatment of women among other things. Admittedly, I don’t disagree that Trump is not a good person. But my friend also blames religion for hatred, and for getting Trump elected…after his little rant he asks the question which I led off with.
But then a few minutes later he posts an interesting reply to a comment on my Facebook page…
A different friend makes a comment implying that Muslim immigration to Canada is not a good thing. Too which my “progressive” friend replies, “Great, we need more good people!” Now, I agree that we do need more good people! But herein lies my issue…my liberal friend implies through his comment that religious Muslims are good people whom we should let into the country. Yet a mere few minutes prior he railed against religion as a force for hatred and filth.
Leftist flip flopping? Say it ain’t so!
You can’t say that religion is a force for hatred and filth, and then say that a group of religious people is good.
Which is it? A or B?
Oh wait. I get it…it is just Christians that are hateful and filthy…not Muslims…
Granted it’s just Facebook, and it is just a guy being upset…
Anyway. Let’s examine the question he asks…
Where is your god?
For most people, God is not given a second thought most of the time. When things are going well, or when things are going the way we want them to go, most people could care less about God. But when things go bad, or when things go in a way that goes against what we want to happen, we take God off the back burner, and make him the brunt of our scorn. Yet God is there, always, in both the good times and the bad. In Jeremiah 5:24 we learn that God ordains the good days,
They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
And Paul in Acts 14:16 reiterates this thought with these words,
In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
We may not think about him in the good times, but when things go bad for us, we blame him, or in this particular case, we blame those who claim to worship him. Yet we see that it is God who gives us the rain, the crops the food we eat which fills our hearts, both believers and unbelievers alike, with gladness.
So one answer to the question, “Where is your God?” is this: God is in the same place he was when he gave us our many good days as he was when Donald Trump was elected and you were made angry.
In Psalm 115, we read something very similar to what my progressive friend asks,
Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
In psalm 135 the psalmist reiterates that the Lord does all he pleases,
I know that the Lord is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.
The Lord does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstborn of people and animals.
He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
He struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings—
Sihon king of the Amorites,
Og king of Bashan,
and all the kings of Canaan—
and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance to his people Israel.
We see that God does whatever he pleases, and nothing happens outside of his will, even seemingly bad things — striking down nations, killing kings etc.– So another answer to the question is: God is providentially reigning on his throne in heaven and overseeing all things according to his sovereign plan.
I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath. ~ Hosea 13:11
In Daniel 2:21 we read that:
He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
In Psalm 75 the psalmist declares that,
No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt themselves.
It is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
So another answer to the question is — dare I say it — that God is present in the raising up of world leaders…and was present in raising up Donald Trump as POTUS.
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
The Apostle Paul states the above in his letter to the Phillippians. Scripture teaches that there will be suffering in this life, even for God’s children. He often brings his children into times of affliction for their sanctification and discipline and to draw them closer to him. Yet the unbeliever does not any good in suffering. In Psalm 79, the Psalmist writes,
Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes!
When these times of trouble come for believers, the psalmist writes that the nations, or unbelievers (like my friend), may say, “If your God is so good he wouldn’t allow this to happen! Where is your god now?”
In verse 12 of the same psalm the psalmist writes,
Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lᴏʀᴅ!
In Psalm 9:7 we read that,
“The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.”
So another answer to the question is: He is reigning on his throne and is preparing to judge the world and exact sevenfold vengeance on those who taunt him and his loved ones (unbelievers).
“Where is your Father.”
This was asked of Jesus by his accusers, the Pharisees.
A similar question to what was asked by my friend on Facebook.
Where is your God?
And Jesus answers them,
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
What Jesus is saying was that God was standing before them, in their midst.
So where is my God?
He is reigning as king, and he is here in our midst, and he has made a way to escape the vengeance to come. He is patient with us. Yes even the formerly Christain self proclaimed atheist. Peter says,
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
And Paul states in Acts,
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Regardless of your political views, regardless of your sins, Regardless how Trump makes your blood boil, the Lord says he desires all to come to him to call upon him and be saved. He is patient, but the time is short…we only have this life to be saved. Look to him.
