Prayer and the Elections

I love thee, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, 

My God, my rock; in whom I take refuge,

My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.  (Psalm 18:1-3)

Nearly everyone prays before major surgery. People may doubt that God will directly intervene to protect them, but they reach out to God for help anyway. 

Our upcoming election is a bit like major surgery. The election seems likely to make our body politic healthier, but the election and the certification process might instead do great harm. 

So this post is a call to prayer. 

We should include the election and certification process in our personal prayers. I’m praying that God will bless and guide our nation. I’m also praying for an honest and peaceful conclusion to this election.

God uses prayer to align our desires and actions to God’s purposes and to give us peace of mind. And God sometimes seems to intervene miraculously to do what we ask.  

Pastors and churches should lead their people in public prayer, certainly next Sunday before Election Day and maybe every Sunday until January 3, when the newly elected members of Congress are supposed to be sworn in. Ask your pastor to remember the elections in next Sunday’s prayers. I did, and he thanked me for reminding him.

We should make it a habit to ask God to guide our politics. President Trump will still be in power in 2027. He, as well as the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, will be deciding what to do in a changed political environment. Our advocacy with our own members of Congress may have more impact in the new environment. 

Meanwhile, the politics of other countries are changing. Elections in Brazil, Serbia, and Israel this week, together with big protests led by young people in India and Europe, invite us to pray that God will be present in what’s happening all around the world.  

Marcus Borg’s last book, titled Jesus, gave me a deeper appreciation of the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is almost certainly something that the historical Jesus himself taught, and it reflects his main message about God’s kingdom coming into the world (Luke 4:18-19).

My choice of words based on authoritative translations makes this clear.