Inauguration Eve

 

As I was reading Psalm 2 & 3 this morning, my thoughts turned to the leaders of our country and the leaders around the world. I think I can say this with some certainty, we rarely have leaders who are completely focused on the Lord. As a matter of fact, sometimes, like the psalmist, it appears they are plotting against those who rely upon the Lord.

“Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they cry, ‘and free ourselves from slavery to God.” (Psalm 2:1-3)

Tomorrow about half of our country will be celebrating and the other half will cringe in fear for the next four years. I don’t care who our leaders are, I pray for them. Instead of whining and complaining about this cause or that cause, this party or that party, we should be praying they will seek the Lord. We need to pray they are filled with the Lord’s compassion, purpose, grace, and mercy. There is so much hate in this world, I would propose any time we think hate toward a person, a politician, or a group of people, we should instead stop and pray. When you look at Presidents as they leave office, they look so beaten down and the weariness of the job has its affects. I pray specifically for President Biden and Vice President Harris, that they will be a peace, that they will get rest, and they will have time to focus on their relationship with the Lord. They might. The might not, but I will still pray that they will.

Psalm 3 is a Psalm of David when he was fleeing from his own son Absalom, a political enemy. I cannot imagine a job where you face your enemies directly every single day. The President of the United States faces his political enemies every day and sometimes those enemies are like Absalom, they are trying to LITERALLY kill them. I have no idea what it is like to live in the kind of fear David knew:

“O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many against me. So many are saying, ‘God will never rescue him!’” (Psalm 3:1-2)

I pray the Lord will place a hedge of protection around President Trump and his family. That even though his enemies pursue him, some bent on killing him, that the Lord would provide him with peaceful nights of rest and that he will be successful in making this country a better place and that grace, mercy, and love will fill his life and the lives of his people.