Tired of Politics? Que Sera Sera

Okay. It is an exasperated consensus among most of us that the presidential election cannot come too soon. Most people know who they're voting for, and have for quite a while, so wouldn't it be nice to ignore the junk mail, turn off the radio and TV and stop reading online news coverage and just kick back and remember what life outside of politics is like? 

In the days leading up to the election, I thought it would be fun to post some happy songs to help re-focus on the joyful side of life. This first song by Doris Day speaks to me, not fatalistically as some might interpret it, but humbly; it is an encouragement to do my part by praying and voting and then leaving the outcome to the Lord. 

Many folks feed an insatiable need to control through politics. But we are not in control. And so when people don't get their way in politics, they become angry and fixated on what is wrong, losing a balanced perspective. Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, writing about the Psalms for the JesusWalk Bible Study Series explains it this way:

Trust, he writes, "Begins with an attitude of humility. We can't rest when we feel we have to be in control. We can't relax when we have to feel like we're in charge." Wilson cites Psalm 131:1: 

"My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me."

Wilson continues: "Resting in God begins with humility--and perspective. He's (King David) not talking about squelching normal curiosity and inquiry. But there comes a point of obsession where we must understand. That attitude is part of the urge to control everything. There are some things beyond my knowledge. Therefore, those things that I can't fathom, that I can't understand why, I must be willing to let them go in order to rest in God."

We may not fathom why a politician thinks the way they do, or why people vote the way they do, or why the laws that are passed are passed. And we can't control outcomes; we can influence outcomes by prayer and voting and obeying God in His call on our lives. But we can't control outcomes other than how we personally choose to respond in any given situation. And even then we sometimes slip, later lamenting, with the apostle Paul, that we didn't do what we wanted to do but did what we didn't want to do (Romans 7:15). 

The only One who is truly in control at all times is God. And our trust, our "que sera sera," must be in Him: not the political process, or any given politician, or cause or law. Just Him. Que sera sera.

"But I trust in you, O LORD;
 I say, 'You are my God.' 
My times are in your hands;" Psalm 31:14-15a