God Is Still On His Throne…
Right after getting the results of the 2024 Presidential Election, several believers all over social media, posted in a meme, or actually typed out that "God is still on His throne" and/or "God is still in control."
I am going to presume that these same believers meant well. I believe their effort was to assuage and remind others, who were quite disappointed or saddened about this election outcome, to know that God's got this-- that we are to trust in God, etc.
Yet, what I was picking up from believers on the receiving end, including myself, is that the cliche of "God is still on His throne," while true, was not being well received. It fell flat. It felt dismissive and invalidating of people's real feelings. Something was getting lost in translation. Why?
Then I read on someone else's page, who asked in retort of this cliche, "When was God not on His throne?” or by extension, "When was God not in control?"
I then expanded further upon this question with the following:
Was not God still on His throne, when our race of people were enslaved in this country for over 250 years?
Was not God still on His throne when approximately six million Jews were killed and gassed to death during the Nazi reign?
Was not God still on His throne when Pol Pot committed genocide against his own people, and all of the rest of the genocides that are happening in Africa and else where?
Was not God still on His throne when the terrorist group Hamas mercilessly attacked Israelis slaughtering about 1200 people and in turn, the Israeli military killing more than 44,000 Palestinian citizens and counting?
If some believers are using the cliches of "God is still on the throne" or that "God is still in control" to communicate to others, that they simply need to calm down and that "everything is gonna' be okay," earth's history and just living on this planet even a little while tell us clearly- that is not true. Obviously, everything has NOT been okay, and everything is NOT going to be okay. At the same time, God IS STILL on His throne. Both can be true!
In that reality, to simply say "God is still on the throne" without contextualization is to be dismissive of what people are actually feeling and their real concerns. Without contextualization, it actually may come across as not being biblically accurate-- because God has clearly stated, in His Word, that things will get worse- way worse. Prophecy, in broad terms, tell us that we are definitely nearing the end, and it won't be a smooth sailing. Many of us have even embraced more specifics in terms of the religio-political dynamics, involving the erosion of the separation of church and state, and the threefold union between the papacy, apostate Protestantism (Christian Nationalists), and spiritualism. None of that will be okay.
Yes, God is still on His throne. Yes, He will take care of us and has taken care of us through thick and thin. He has buffered the consequences of our mistakes and rebellion. He has shown His love to us continually while we were utterly selfish and defiant. Yes, on an individual basis, in spite of what goes on in this evil world, whether it be election outcomes, corruptions, economic failures, tragedies, or disasters, God has got our backs. He will be with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us.
At the same time, that does not mean that there aren't some dark and difficult days ahead, days of upheaval and the unraveling of norms and comforts that we may have gotten accustomed to.
But as in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr, "It really doesn't matter to me now; because I've been to the mountain top. And I looked over and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."
Let's get to the Promised Land. We have sojourned in this wilderness long enough!
