Right in the centre - Wisdom and comfort
- Details
- Published on Thursday, January 30, 2025
By Ken Waddell
Neepawa Banner & Press
The Bible clearly states we are to pray for our governments at all levels. We have several layers or levels in Canada, school boards, municipal, provincial and federal governments.
“13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Romans 13:1-2
2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.1 Timothy:2-1-2
The above Bible verses are simple enough and straight forward. We are instructed that God establishes our governments and that we are to pray for them. What if we don’t like our government? The verses still apply. But what about evil governments like Nazi Germany. I am sure many millions of people prayed through those horrific times and we can be thankful that as bad as things are now, we aren’t suffering from the effects of the Nazis.
That said, if ever our generation needed to pray for our government, it’s now.
I think we are in for tumultuous times. With the bombardment of information we endure in this age, we know instantly when things happen, be they good or bad. I doubt that any era that people have known more instant information than we do today. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Thailand, we can be told about it instantly, in full colour and with sound.
The internet has been harnessed by news media companies, by internet influencers and by political movements to mould us into their image. But we are not created in their image, we are created in God’s image and that is the image that we must imagine, the image we need to pursue.
The United States has just gone through a transformational election. The previous government, the Democrats had taken the country in a direction that has been solidly rejected by the voters.
Canada is about to go through what may be a transformational election. The current government, the Liberals have taken the country in a direction that may be solidly rejected by the voters. Polling would indicate that to be the case.
We need to pray for Canada and the United States.
Prayer will do many things but two come to mind. One, prayer reaches out to God to extend His mercy and wisdom to governments. Two, prayer gives us comfort when it seems that the world and our world is crumbling.
In the coming months, may our governments deal wisely and decisively with the issues of the day. In both Canada and the United States there has been a lack of wisdom and correct decisions for a number of years. Change is coming at us like a tidal wave, may God bring mercy and wisdom to governments and comfort to us all.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the newspaper staff.
