Should I Vote? Yes or No
Should a Christian participate in the political system of his nation? Isn't that putting your confidence in man's wisdom instead of trusting God as your source and leader?
“But the elections are rigged.”
Did you just find out about that now?
God often gave His prophets messages for certain countries. Often, they were not intended to be delivered directly to the leaders of nations, though that was sometimes the case (Jonah 1:2). Many times, it seems, the prophet was to stay where he was yet speak words regarding different nations. Although no one in the leadership of the nation involved would ever hear the warning, the words concerning them were spoken nonetheless. It was not so much a political action was it was a spiritual action. Our words spoken in accordance with God's Word have great significance.
God blesses or judges nations. In the prosperity of our nation we will have prosperity.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. (Jer 29:7)
If whatever nation we are living in experiences peace, we will have national peace. If our nation is in a time of financial prosperity, we will tend to experience prosperity as well. If our nation experiences drought, famine or judgment, we as individual citizens will hurt to a greater or lesser degree as well.
God will sometimes judge a nation for their sin. We are living in the day of Grace right now and national judgment seems slow in coming in many cases. Sometimes there is a natural, national consequence for sin such as shedding innocent blood and (relatively) innocent people suffer along with the guilty.
Having the citizenry vote on national issues and leaders is a fairly recent anomaly. As many other things in human government, even this gets corrupted. Election officials are bought and more votes are cast than there are people. It is enough to make a responsible person swear off all political involvement. You know that the technology exists to record the name and address of every person and how they voted. What a system!
You can also be sure that God has His angels recording every word that is spoken by His people. Your political vote may not have much influence in the earthly realm. However, your voice can have much weight in the spiritual realm. It is not so important to vote for a particular candidate but to cast your voice for (relative) good and against evil is of extreme importance.
An evil person can come into office then have God deal with them. They can have a change of heart. An apparently good person can be elected and come into an important office. Then, they unpack their real agenda. Since we cannot know a person's heart or the future, it is not so important (from our point of view) which person we vote for, as it to go to the polls and use our “voice” against evil.
Today, it seems anonymous. We can vote for evil because we think it may be financially advantageous to us. Then we go to church and smile but God knows the heart. He knows the real motives of our inner person.
It is not really the candidate. It is the fact that you have the awesome privilege of silently proclaiming your voice on behalf of your nation. When the inevitable consequence of bloodshed or war or greed comes upon your nation, you know that you have used your voice to denounce evil. Whether that is enough to turn the wrath of God away from your nation or not, you will know that you have “spoken” for the cause of righteousness. If christians are the actual cause of national suffering...
Oct 28, 2024
That last line had no ending that I could come up with.