The King’s Heart Is in the Hand of the Lord

 

Last night, the American people spoke decisively and elected Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. I voted for John McCain. Am I disappointed? Yes, but really only to a very small degree.

On one of the online bulletin boards that I frequent, I posted the following message not long after Obama was declared the winner around 10:00pm eastern time…”God Bless America! I am not an Obama fan at all but I wanted to say how proud I am that the country has voted in the first black President. Racism be damned.”

Let’s face the facts…Racism is still alive and well in America. Obama’s election, though, is proof positive that we’ve made a ton of progress. Yes, black Americans voted overwhelmingly for Obama. However, Obama would never have come close to what he achieved last night had it not been for the votes of the average, every day, working class white American. I’ve seen and heard the racial slurs that some on the far right have flung at Obama. They don’t speak for me and, praise God, they were effectively silenced last night, at least for the time being.

I was watching Fox News last night (yes, THAT channel for you liberals out there…FYI, many libs have been saying their coverage has been more fair and balanced than most of the other networks) and listening to Juan Williams talk about what it means for us to have elected the first black American as President. He was nearly moved to tears talking about how important this is to people who have been historically oppressed in this country. Listening to him, I got sort of choked up myself and felt proud of what was accomplished in that respect.

I’d like to close this entry in saying that I’m disappointed in the reaction of some of my fellow Christian conservatives out there. This isn’t the time for gloom and doom and prognosticating about what might be the outcome of a Barack Obama Presidency. There’ll be time to debate and discuss what happens when it happens. Now is the time for us to pray and ask our God to bless this country and our new President-elect.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” – Proverbs 21:1 (KJV)

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” – 1st Timothy 2:1-2 (NIV)

God bless America!