whiplash, resistance, and growth

I love Election Day. It's always fun! I love standing in line, observing with amusement the motley crew of voters assembling with me. I love the many different signs required by law -- "100 Foot Limit," "Official Polling Place," "No Smoking," and many others -- and how they are all lovingly attached to the polling-place doors with duct tape by an election official who clearly thinks he is MacGuyver. Most of all, I love that I live in a free and democratic republic where I have the right and privilige of standing in that line and casting that ballot for the leadership of my country.

But let's face it -- Election Day is only really fun if your guy wins. Sadly, mine did not.

It's not that I was completely confident in a McCain victory, but I was hopeful... even if only naively so. It was sort of like being stopped at a red light and seeing a speeding idiot racing up behind you in your rearview mirror. You tighten your grip on the wheel and brace yourself for the impact, but secretly you're still hoping he'll wise up and find his brakes in time. After the impact, the ensuing whiplash serves as a painful reminder that you can never be too alert, too casual when you're behind the wheel, because you simply can't take for granted that everyone else is as diligent as you are when driving. Not everyone cares about the rules of the road.

The same diligence is required in living the Christian faith. You can never be too alert, too casual, because you simply can't take for granted that everyone else is living the by same rules of morality, justice and liberty. No matter how hard you brace yourself for a clash of ideas, the impact and whiplash still hurt.

Obama's victory was, for me, a spiritual car wreck, and I spent that entire evening sulking about the whiplash I know will last for the next four years. I took up my pen (okay, keyboard) to write down all of the bitter, angry, hateful words that rushed to my mind in the wake of his victory speech. Like the disciples on the stormy sea of Galilee, I cried out bitterly, "Lord! Don't You care?!?!" I said a lot of stupid things, lingered in many bitter conversations, and offered up many tearful prayers and petitions....

It was only when all my stupid, selfish words were spent that I, like those disciples so long ago, remembered that there is only one absolute truth, one bottom line -- that is, that God is still God, and I am still not.

He was right there in the boat with the disciples, and He was right there in the voting booths of our nation. Nothing that happened on November 4th took Him by surprise... and nothing could ever happen that would be outside of His control. The winds and stormy seas still obey Him, and the leaders of nations are still used by Him for His purposes and ultimate glory. The Bible is full of examples of pagan kings and leaders being used by God to affect His purpose for His children, and that purpose has always been the same throughout the course of history -- namely, that God wants us to grow into His image and likeness, to become more like Him.

Oftentimes that growth only happens because of resistance, because things don't go our way. The classic example of this is the Biosphere, the man-made "Garden of Eden experiment" built in southern Arizona a decade or so ago. Man, in his arrogant folly, set out to create a perfect world, a flawless environment in which there would be no pollution, no ozone depletion, no chemically-altered food or endangered species. Life inside the Biosphere was designed by man to be perfect. But it wasn't. There was something wrong with the trees -- despite living in a "perfect" environment, they were all dying. They were tall and straight and upright and looked perfect in man's eyes, but they weren't surviving. Why? Because there was no wind. One of the chief lessons learned in the Biosphere experiment was that trees need the resistance of the wind in order to live. In other words, a "perfect" world meant death for the trees because they had no adverse conditions in which to grow strong. Trees were never meant to be tall and straight and upright -- they were meant to be crooked and lopsided and battered by the elements. Only when a tree stands against the wind does it thrive.

So, too, does history show that God's people thrive when faced with adversity. In fact, God instigates that adversity in the lives of His children purposely to build up their strength. The Babylonian exile, the Roman persecution, the Reformation, even the pilgrims' settlement of the New World... time and time again the Church has faced tough times precisely because it needs those tough times in order to live. History also shows that when the Church has become "mainstream," when everything appears to be going its way -- Solomon's temple, the Holy Roman Empire and the like -- it loses its diligence and becomes lazy, taking its prominent status for granted. From the very beginning, since the moment of the Great Commission, the Church has thrived in the face of resistance.

And I believe we are entering a new season of such resistance with the election of Obama to our nation's highest office. Having held a prominent social and cultural position for the past generation, perhaps the Church has become lazy and lost some of its diligence when it comes to what really matters. Now, facing a new national leader whose words and actions are vehemently opposed to the teachings of Christ, who believes the rules by which our society lives are not God-given or absolute, God's people are about to meet some heavy winds of resistance, perhaps even outright persecution. But like the cloud of saints and witnesses who have gone before us, we should not shrink back in self-pity or fear, but turn our faces into the wind and embrace it -- even rejoice in it! -- knowing that it's the very same resistance that will make us stronger and conform us evermore into the likeness of Jesus Christ. This is exactly what God promises us in His Word:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 NAS)

So even while we are feeling the whiplash of this week's events, we can take hope and rejoice in the winds of resistance that are to come, because God promises we will grow stronger and taller and closer to Him as a result. After all, those are the same winds that obeyed Him on the Sea of Galilee, and they obey Him still...