A Different Third Party Candidate

I have watched almost every televised debate and town hall meeting leading up to this year’s Presidential election.  Maybe it’s the times we are in.  Is this not the most significant election of my lifetime, Lord?  At least, to date?

We have two political parties, though sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between them.  What they each stand for seems to be shifting… and not in the most desirable ways.

Occasionally a “third party” candidate surfaces.  Seeking to be an alternative.  Running as an Independent.

This morning, Lord, You gripped my heart to the point of anguish.  Was it Your grief I was feeling as I looked at the landscape before me?  The landscape not only of our national leadership, but of our whole nation?

“A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.”  (Psalm 68:5)

I suddenly saw our whole nation as fatherless.  On so many levels, we have turned away from our Only Hope.  You, Lord… the Almighty God, who is our Everlasting Father.  I had no choice but to mourn.. deeply.

In a split second, two things happened.  You let me feel the grief of our separation from You.  And You reminded me about an ancient king of Judah — Hezekiah (700 BC).

The grief became crushing when I read Your description of Hezekiah’s heart for You.  Because it highlighted how far we have fallen as a nation.  Oh, Lord… How I long for a President with a “Hezekah spirit!”

“He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord… He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.  He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it [as if it were a god.]  

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord… He held fast and did not stop following Him… He kept the commands of the Lord… and the Lord was with Him; he was successful in whatever he undertook… ”  (2 Kings 18:3-7)

Hezekiah prayed for his nation.  You not only heard him, Lord…. You delivered them from an “insurmountable” enemy!

“Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.”  (2 Kings 19:19)

So that all would know that You, alone, are God.

I could hardly read these words aloud, Lord.  As I heard them, they pierced my heart.  Knowing how far we are from Hezekiah’s heart.  And knowing how desperately weand our leaders — need to be more like him.

Oh, Abba… How we need a leader from a different kind of Third Party — the “party” of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  A leader who does not run as an Independent.  But one who knows the only path to everything we so desperately need is through dependence.

On You, Lord.

Will You do for us what You did for Hezekiah?

Crying out for Your mercy,

Abba’s Girl

 

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