The votes are counted, or nearly so. Some of you woke up this morning celebrating, and some of you woke up heartsick. This one is for both of you, because the word you need this Wednesday is the same word.
It is Wednesday, November 4, the morning after the midterm elections. Many of us stayed up later than we should have, refreshing a map that kept changing colors. Many of us reached for the phone before we reached for the Bible this morning. I understand. I did a little of that myself. So let me do two things in this post. First, let me give you the headlines plainly, the way a friend would over coffee. Then let me do what I am actually called to do: point you back to the throne that was never on the ballot.
Watch the film: I also made a five-minute narrated film of this message, with this morning’s headlines and the men and women of Scripture who trusted God under every kind of government. Watch “The Throne Was Not on the Ballot” →
What Happened Yesterday
These are the headlines as of Wednesday morning, based on projections from the Associated Press and the major networks. Some races are still being counted, and seat totals may move by a few in either direction.
- Democrats win control of the U.S. House. Networks project somewhere around 250 to 258 seats, well past the 218 needed. That would be the most House seats Democrats have held since 1993. Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become Speaker in January.
- Democrats win control of the U.S. Senate, flipping seven Republican-held seats: Texas, Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina, Maine, North Carolina and Kansas. Sen. Susan Collins conceded in Maine. Alaska and Mississippi were still uncalled this morning.
- Texas went blue statewide for the first time since 1994. James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton for the Senate seat, and Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott.
- Governors’ races: Democrats flipped Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa. Republicans held Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma and Nebraska, and kept Senate seats in Florida and Nebraska.
- History was made on both sides of the aisle. Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia became the first Black woman ever elected governor in the United States. Byron Donalds became Florida’s first Black governor and the first Black Republican elected governor in American history. Amy Acton became Ohio’s first woman governor.
- What drove voters: in exit polling, the cost of living towered over everything else as the issue on people’s minds.
That is the news. Now hear the truth.
The Throne That Was Not on the Ballot
When the Apostle John was caught up in the Spirit on Patmos, an exile under the most powerful government on earth, the very first thing heaven showed him was not a battle and not a beast. It was a seat. “And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Revelation 4:2, KJV). Before God showed John anything about the future, He settled the question of who is in charge.
That throne was occupied on Monday. It was occupied all night Tuesday while the returns came in. It is occupied this morning, and not one vote cast yesterday moved it an inch. Daniel told the most powerful king of his day exactly this: “And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Daniel 2:21, KJV). And when that same king forgot it, God took him out to pasture for seven years until he learned “that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Daniel 4:17, KJV).
If you are celebrating this morning, remember that the God who set up your candidates can remove them. If you are grieving this morning, remember that the God who allowed this outcome has not been surprised by it, outvoted by it, or diminished by it. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1, KJV). That includes Speakers, Senators, Governors and Presidents. All of them.
Even When You Cannot See It or Feel It
Maybe you know all of that, and still this morning you cannot feel it. Maybe it looks to you like the wheels are coming off, or like everything you hoped for just slipped through your fingers. Let me say it as plainly as I know how: God is still sovereign, and God is still in control, even when we don’t see it and even when we don’t feel it. His rule over the nations does not depend on our emotions catching up to it.
Job knew that feeling better than any of us. Sitting in the ashes, he said, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him.” Then, in the very next breath, faith spoke louder than his feelings: “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:8–10, KJV). Job could not see God. God never once lost sight of Job.
That is why Paul could write, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7, KJV), and why the prophet Habakkuk, watching his own nation unravel, could still sing, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines… Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17–18, KJV). Although and yet. That is the grammar of faith on a Wednesday morning.
Men Who Never Had a Friendly Government
Walk through the Bible and notice something. Almost none of God’s heroes lived under a government that shared their faith. They did not need one.
Abraham lived his whole life as a foreigner in a land ruled by Canaanite kings. He never held office, never owned more of the Promised Land than a burial cave, and still “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief” (Romans 4:20, KJV), “for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10, KJV). His hope was never in the city of man.
Joseph was sold by his brothers, falsely accused, and forgotten in Pharaoh’s prison for years. Then, in a single day, God moved him from the dungeon to the second chair of Egypt. Looking back, he could say to the very men who betrayed him, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20, KJV). Joseph’s story is a long lesson in God’s timing. Every delay was a preparation.
Moses waited forty years in the back side of the desert before God sent him back to Pharaoh. Forty years. Israel groaned under bondage the whole time, and it looked like heaven was silent. It was not. “God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant” (Exodus 2:24, KJV). When the hour came, Moses “endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27, KJV). He saw a King that Pharaoh could not see.
Job lost everything without ever being told why, and still fell on his face and worshipped: “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21, KJV). At the end of his long night he confessed what every believer must learn: “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee” (Job 42:2, KJV).
And Daniel, the young captive who served under Babylonian and Persian kings, did not lead a campaign when the law turned against him. He went home, opened his windows toward Jerusalem, and “kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:10, KJV). As he did aforetime. The law changed. Daniel did not. His faithfulness did not depend on who held power, and neither should ours.
The Question Jesus Would Not Answer
Here is one of the most important moments in the New Testament, and it is easy to miss. The risen Christ stood with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, minutes before He ascended. They had one last question for Him, and it was a political one: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6, KJV).
Jesus did not answer it. He redirected them. “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:7–8, KJV). In other words: the timing belongs to the Father. Your assignment is the mission.
And look at what twelve ordinary men did with that assignment. Fishermen. A tax collector. A zealot. Men who had argued about rank and run into the night when Jesus was arrested. They had no votes, no party, no seat at Caesar’s table. The religious authorities arrested them and threatened them. And yet “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13, KJV). Within a generation their enemies were complaining, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6, KJV).
Then add Paul, the persecutor turned apostle. He wrote “let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God” (Romans 13:1, KJV) while Nero sat on the throne of Rome. He wrote from chains that his imprisonment had “fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12, KJV). And he reminded a church living in a proud Roman colony, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20, KJV). Our citizenship is in heaven. Our passport is stamped there.
The church that turned the Roman Empire upside down never won an election. It won hearts, one at a time, by the power of the Holy Ghost. That has not changed.
Do Not Get Sucked In
Brothers and sisters, I love you, so let me say this plainly. The enemy would love nothing more than for you to spend the next two years angry, anxious, and arguing. He would love for the church to look exactly like the world, sorted into two teams and shouting across the aisle. Do not give him that.
Your neighbor who voted differently than you is not your enemy. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12, KJV). Paul warned young Timothy, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4, KJV). We are soldiers of a different King. We can vote, we can serve, we can speak to the issues of our day, but we cannot let the affairs of this life entangle us and pull our eyes off of Jesus.
Here is what we are told to do instead: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1–2, KJV). First of all. Before the commentary. Before the post. Before the group text. Pray, by name, for the people who were elected yesterday, whether you voted for them or not.
God’s Timing Is Perfect, and the King Is Coming
God has never once been early or late. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4, KJV). Not a day before. Not a day after. The same God who timed the first coming to the hour has already set the day of the second. Every election, every administration, every headline is moving along a timeline He wrote before the foundation of the world.
And that timeline is running out. Jesus is coming soon. “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing” (Matthew 24:44–46, KJV). Notice what the faithful servant is found doing when the Master returns. Not refreshing the election map. Feeding the household.
One day soon the seventh angel will sound, and heaven will announce the only transfer of power that really matters: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15, KJV). No recount. No runoff. No concession speech required. Until then we live “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13, KJV).
Wednesday Morning Marching Orders
So what do we do today? The same thing the faithful have always done.
- Open your windows like Daniel. Pray today, as you did aforetime. Do not let the news set your rhythm.
- Pray for the newly elected by name. Ask God to give them wisdom, and ask Him to use them for good, as He did with Joseph’s Pharaoh.
- Guard your tongue and your feed. If a post or a comment would make your neighbor less likely to hear the gospel from you, it is not worth it.
- Go back to the mission. Make disciples. Feed the household. Serve your church. Share Christ with someone this week who is anxious about the future.
- Look up. The King is coming. Be found faithful when He does.
The ballots were counted yesterday. The throne was never on the ballot. “He that sitteth in the heavens” (Psalm 2:4, KJV) is not pacing the floor this morning, and neither should we. Let us get back to work. The harvest is still ripe, the laborers are still few, and the One who sits on the throne has not changed His mind about a single promise.
Father, You were on Your throne yesterday, and You are on Your throne this morning. Forgive us for the hours we spent anxious over things You already hold in Your hand. We pray for every man and woman elected to serve this nation and our states. Give them wisdom, restrain evil, and use them for good. Guard our hearts from bitterness and our tongues from division. When we cannot see Your hand, help us trust Your heart. Make us like Daniel at the window, like Joseph in the waiting, like the twelve in the upper room, like Paul in his chains: faithful, unshaken, and busy about Your business. Fill us again with Your Spirit, and find us ready when Jesus comes. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. In His name, amen.
Scripture at the heart of this devotional: Revelation 4:2; Daniel 2:21; Daniel 4:17; Job 23:8–10; Genesis 50:20; Exodus 2:24; Daniel 6:10; Acts 1:6–8; Acts 17:6; Philippians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:1–2; Matthew 24:44–46; Revelation 11:15.