Aliens in America: Day 18

Strong Man  

‘As aliens, live in reverent fear’ (1 Pet. 1:17) 

I am writing this on World Mission Sunday; that is apt. Today, I offer prayerful concerns about America on the world stage. My perspective is shaped by Living Waters’ global offering, small but not insignificant. America still impacts every nation, many in turmoil over the aggression of larger nations around them. 

How will the outcome of this election impact the world and its hot spots: Russia and Europe, China and Taiwan, the Middle East? Big questions for which I’ve few answers except to pray for the best leadership we can offer. 

Will we use our strength to extend justice to the nations? Or to close our borders and act arbitrarily?  

Trump maintained a strong presence internationally during his tenure as president. We faced no serious altercations. Many national leaders didn’t prefer him but knew they couldn’t take advantage of him.  

Trump preferred the strong men who, like himself, tended to act fiercely and autocratically: Putin, Xi Jinping, Viktor Orban of Hungary. To be sure, Trump is a powerful force, for better or worse, on the world stage.  

Untested Harris is less clear. Doubtless, she would rebuild bridges. Unknown is how seasoned and decisive she would be on the volatile global stage. I have serious doubts.    

If elected, how will Trump use his power? With other strong men, he tends to fawn then slam then fawn again, if another gives him his due.  

A respected friend of mine said this, and it rang true: ‘Trump has a matchless ego, a force to be reckoned with. Nature abhors a vacuum. All other forces will be forces to take advantage of a vacuous USA. Without strength rising in the vacuum, we will implode.’  

Strength rising. How will a new president direct our power? And toward who? One hot spot that concerns me is Ukraine. Living Waters serves the nearby Baltic countries, including Poland, which together connects to land Russia wants to retake after Ukraine.   

Our friends live under the threat of Putin’s aggression. ‘Old unhealed wounds suffered by Lithuania during WW2 and later under Soviet rule have reopened…’ writes our leader there.   

While Biden came to Ukraine’s defense along with Europe and an empowered NATO, Trump has blamed Ukraine president Zelensky: ‘He should never have let that war start.’ What? The only person Trump hasn’t blamed is Putin, who invaded Ukraine. Instead, Trump congratulated him as a military ‘genius’, the invasion as a ‘wonderful strategy.’ Refusing the admonition of his own military general, Trump phone-called Putin and congratulated him on his questionable ‘win’ as president. Russian ‘democracy’ allows no Putin losses.   

Trump acts, but I don’t always understand the plan. He brokers power but toward what end? What we know: he will do it his way. 

‘No other living president would dream of, let alone get away with, lionizing a Russian leader who is now waging the biggest war in Europe since WW2 after declaring that Ukraine has no right to exist.’ 

‘Jesus, we love the justice America has extended to the nations. We are surrounded by conflicts and need sound leadership. Prepare both candidates with prudence for a volatile world. Lord have mercy as we seek to extend our best to the nations. Prosper us in virtue so we may prosper others accordingly.  

May we use our power to empower the weak and restrain misdirected power. In particular, we pray for: the restraint of Russia in Ukraine and surrounding areas, for the restraint of China towards Taiwan and the Philippines, and for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Prepare the most fit leader and wise counsel to preside over America in this crucial hour.’       

‘Jesus, You are the King, and we are first citizens of Your Kingdom. Would you free us for You in this election season, not to hide but to shine? You’ve always asked nothing less from Your elect whom You have made ‘strangers in a strange land’ (Ex. 2:22). Here we are, a people who don’t know what to do but who look and listen to our King.  

“Father of all holiness, 

guide our hearts to You. 

Keep in the light of Your Truth 

all those You have freed from the darkness of unbelief. 

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.”’ 

Amen