CAN A PRESIDENT SAVE A NATION?
Judges 3:31 (NIV 1984) After Ehud came Shamgar...who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.
He too saved Israel. Sometimes, with an overly-pious viewpoint, we think that to trust in a person for salvation is somehow misfocused, or worse, idolatrous. For sure, it is only Jesus who can save our souls from the influence and condemnation of sin; however, when it comes to societal and national issues, God works through humans to accomplish His purposes. He always has. How often do we read in our Bibles about God doing miraculous things without some human involved in the middle of it? Not many! God alone saved eight people from a global flood. Oh, wait! He used a big boat, which He had a man build (Gen 6). He also saved an entire people group by having them cross the Red Sea, on dry ground. Oh, wait! He had a man stretch out his hand over the sea to make the waters part (Exo 14:21). Well, I guess the man didn’t make the waters part, but he did play a role in the process. When God conquered Israel’s enemies, He usually required them to go to war and fight with swords and shields. Gideon’s victory was with torches and horns; that’s even more miraculous-looking, but the small army still had to shine the torches and blow the horns, all human involvement, and Gideon was praised for the part he played (Judg 6-7). The miracles we see in the book of Acts are clearly activities of the Holy Spirit but done through human agents. To deny the human agents involved in God’s work is not righteous; it actually borders the ridiculous.
My point? When we pray for God to save our country from godless and evil social agendas, we should not curse, or minimize, the human agent(s) He uses to answer our prayers. That human agent may not be the one we would have chosen and may not pass our religious tests, but that changes nothing. Shamgar “saved Israel”. It didn’t say, “God saved Israel,” though we certainly know He did; I doubt a man by himself, without God, could kill 600 enemy combatants with a farming tool; that’s what an oxgoad was. I have no idea about Shamgar’s morality; the Bible doesn’t say much more about him. I do know Samson won victories over Israel’s enemies, and his morality was highly in question (Judg 14-16).
The Apostle Paul urges us to pray for our leaders “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (1 Tim 2:1-2). It seems to be the leaders’ actions that pave the way for peaceful and Godly living. Notice our prayers help bring this about; and, yes, behind it all is a God who orchestrates the whole thing. Without God intervening and giving us leaders who foster peace for the righteous, we get leaders who initiate conflict instead. They put the righteous on the defensive and surge forward to take their moral high ground, replacing it with all kinds of wickedness. We should not dismiss too quickly the idea that governmental leaders can save this country from its long, not-so-gradual, moral decline. They most certainly can, and they deserve our respect; yet, as followers of Jesus, we know the One behind it all, and it is to Him alone we pray and worship. God used Shamgar to save Israel; He can certainly use a president to save a nation! Let’s pray that He will.
