What Do I Do after the 2016 Election?

When I read the news about the election results at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, I felt stunned. Shocked, maybe even a little horrified. I understood how we got to the place we were and are, but a part of me expected a different outcome.

The outcome is what it is. It jerked me roughly awake last Wednesday, sending questions cycling through my mind. What do we do? Do the American people have recourse? What will happen to people like me, people who are self-employed but need to see a doctor regularly and require daily medication to stay alive? What happens to us?

A single word halted my hamster-wheel thoughts: pray. Pray for Donald Trump. Pray for this country. Beseech the Father who is big and near.

The word isn’t my own. I know that for a fact. I tend to plan and do rather than watch and pray. The word, then, comes from the Spirit. His voice says, “Peace, be still.”

I became still in that moment. The more I allowed the word to resound in my heart and mind, the calmer I became. As I did, I started to remember Jesus’ words on prayer.

He tells me in Matthew 5 to love my enemies and to pray for those who persecute me “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-8, NASB).

Paul offers the following God-breathed words in 1 Timothy.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4, NASB)

Some might argue that prayer seems like a cop-out, but I disagree. Prayer is effective and important. If it weren’t, Jesus wouldn’t have spent time praying to the Father. The scene in the garden and the conversation with Mary and Martha would have played out differently.

Peter wouldn’t have been rebuked for drawing his sword and cutting off some servant’s ear. Martha, not Mary, would have been held up as the shining example. Jesus would have told the disciples to gather figs and olives in Gethsemane instead of “watch and pray.”

Prayer matters. It retunes my heart, reorients my mind, and prompts my hands to act. If it didn’t, why does Paul conclude his discussion of the full armor of God with a point about prayer?

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20, NASB)

Prayer precipitates action. It grounds my work and steadies my feet. It reminds me that I am not in control. Rather, God controls all things and strengthens me for the tasks and times to come.

He provides my daily bread and medication. He metamorphoses hearts, and if he can transform ol’ Nebbie’s heart, he can certainly change my heart and the hearts of today’s authority figures. Hallowed be his name. His kingdom come, his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

What do I do after the 2016 election? I watch and pray, and as I do, faith, hope, and love grow. I become still, for my Jesus not only controls the waves and wheels of my heart but he also draws near it. He is with me, forever and always.

Image: Long Thien (Creative Commons)