Our hope is in Christ, do elections matter at all? Leaders are flawed, the system is imperfect…until our perfect King comes, what do we do?

I watch a lot of princess movies.

Now, before you pass judgement I’d like to point out that I have two young daughters at home, and when given the choice between watching a princess or a bunch of ponies I will gladly choose the princess.

Do you know how many princess movies there are? A lot.

In fact, it seems to be an endless supply as they keep churning them out year after year. While some movie genres come and go with popularity, I have a feeling the princess movie will always reign supreme.

What is it about children that draws them to stories of princes and princesses, kings and queens and faraway kingdoms? It’s so easily grasped, almost as if it’s part of their DNA…

As I watch my girls dress up in their favorite dress costumes and run around the house pretending to be their royalty of choice, I can’t help but think that at the most basic level they are drawn to these characters out of a need to feel special.

To not only be beautiful and brave, but to be elevated above all others. Set apart. Important.

Unfortunately, when you only have one Elsa costume in the house the peace can only last so long, and it doesn’t take long before our little kingdom quickly devolves into a Shakespearean drama filled with jealousy, treachery and all sorts of name calling.

That’s how most monarchies end up.

As history proves over and over finding qualified leaders who wield limited power is hard enough. Finding qualified leaders who wield absolute power, such as a King or Queen, is nearly impossible.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to what God had to say to the Israelites in 1 Samuel when they wanted to be like all the other nations and demanded a king.

This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.

In short: He will tax you like crazy, take your best stuff for himself, make you his servants and then take your children to use as he pleases. Well…You can’t say God didn’t warn them. And how did the Israelites respond? They chose the king.

Now to be fair to the Israelites they were pretty upset at the time with the sons of Samuel who had been appointed judges. They weren’t like Samuel, “but turned aside to dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice.”

On the other hand, it wasn’t really Samuel and his sons that the Israelites were rejecting. They were rejecting God.

The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.

Despite all that God had done for them as a nation, they rejected Him in favor of a flawed, fallible and sinful crown. It goes without saying that things ended up exactly as God predicted.

One flawed individual with all power usually leads to corruption

As you read the history of the Kings of Israel and Judah throughout the Bible there are two things that stand out to me. First, the overwhelming ratio of “evil” Kings to “good” Kings.

For every good king you had at least five bad kings. Sure, you had a handful of really good ones, but as David showed us even the good ones had checkered reigns with echoing repercussions.

The second thing that stands out is the way God judged those Kings and how it contrasts to the way we judge our leaders today. Do you think God took into consideration the national economic prosperity of a King before he deemed him evil? Whether they were at peace or war? Or how about the overall happiness of the people? No, no and no.

It was simple. Were they in alignment with God, or weren’t they?

They either “did right in the sight of the Lord all his days”, or “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Forget the metrics we use today. God made it easy. You were either with Him or you weren’t. It was so simple and yet somehow…they failed again and again.

We’re still failing today.

Many flawed leaders are better than one with absolute power

As another round of elections comes to a close in our own nation I’d like to express my thanks.

Yes, my thanks.

A few hundred years ago, having escaped the tyranny of a different crown, the founders of this nation were given the opportunity to start anew. Having the wisdom to see the inherent problem with consolidating power into a single, flawed individual, they chose a different path.

Instead of one person, they would divide the powers of government into many…equally flawed individuals.

Yes, it’s a mess.

Yes, it seems at times to be totally paralyzed by opposing views.

That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work.

As I read about Kings such as Ahab in the Bible, I am thankful the fate of this nation will never rest solely in one person.

I am thankful for what we have and will do my part to try to keep it aligned with God. What we have, though, is merely an adequate placeholder for what’s to come.

And what’s to come?

A monarchy. Yes, but don’t despair because this time it won’t fail, because for once the crown will be worn by someone worthy to wear it. Someone infallible, righteous, just and in perfect alignment with His Father.

Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

I’m going to keep watching those princess movies with my daughters, you know why? Ask them what a President is and you’re likely to be met with blank stares. Then ask them about a King. They know what it means to be a King. It’s a concept that seems to come naturally, and why shouldn’t it…if a Kingdom is their destiny.