Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?  When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin.  They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’

• 1 Samuel 10:1-2

“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather [for the devil].”

• C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

God did not want Israel to have a king, but then again, God needed them to have a king so that Jesus would be of the kingly line.  To have a just leader, God would have been enough.  This is not a change of mind in God, but God again wants to make it an object lesson for the people of Israel.  Having a king is costly, in that he will raise taxes against the people.  God first gave the people what they wanted, the guy who had no qualifications for the job other than physical appearance, Saul.  He was looking for a couple of donkeys and ended up being anointed king.  Saul did not work out so well, and David came in, with none of the physical stature of Saul, just the heart of a great leader instead.

I draw no parallels to the choosing of Saul and David in the Scripture versus the USA election.  I think that from the tremendous number of obvious falsehoods being told during the campaign, we will be going further from God in the next few years as a nation.  But as individuals, it is up to us.  This year of 2020, with all the issues outside the control of any president, has been great campaigning weather for the devil.

Yet, God is in control.  Regardless of how much evil can be perpetrated against those who love the Lord, God is still in control.  It works out for the good, regardless.  An evangelist once told me when things are going sideways, Satan must be worried.  Forget “good!”  If God’s plans have gotten Satan so worried to lay a year like this one on us, God must have something GREAT in store.

But as for the Lewis quote, this year has been long, many moments have been dull, but I do not think that monotonous, over-all monotony, could be applied to a year that has seen so much upheaval that the 2020 stories could break the internet if we all wrote our memories of this year.  Not literally, but monotony?  Give me a monotonous day with no worries, I need it about now.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.