You’ve known who the new President of the United States is for the last three weeks. I say you know because I don’t. Since my articles are due months in advance, I’m still waiting to see whether McCain or Obama is president. But you already know. So how do you feel about it? Happy or sad? Relieved or worried? Are you hopeful about the future or thinking, “We’re stuck with this guy for the next four years”? Perhaps you’re asking the question I have asked before: “Is this what God wanted?”

George W. Bush did not win the popular vote in 2000. There are those who say he would not have won Florida (and therefore the election) either but for confusion in the voting booth in several key districts (remember the dimpled chads?). A chance happening that resulted in a president most Americans didn’t vote for? Or divine confusion of Floridians’ thinking like the confusion of language at Babel?

I don’t know. I’m not a prophet and God never claimed to be a Republican. I certainly believe that God acts in the world today, and I believe he can raise a man to power according to his will. But when it comes to politics and current events, I always stop short of saying, “This was God’s doing.” Anyone who does claim to assign divine cause or purpose to such big moments in history is either truly a prophet or incredibly arrogant.

What I can know is what the Bible says about God’s involvement in political affairs. Paul tells us that human governments ultimately come from God: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). There you have it: all governments are established by God. Wait a minute—all governments? Even evil governments? Yes. Remember to whom Paul was writing: Christians in Rome who lived under a government that would eventually persecute them. God doesn’t want evil governments to be evil—the evil is in the sin choices of individuals who run governments. But even a bad government ultimately serves God’s purpose of establishing order and law, however imperfectly.

Back in the 80s, with the rise of the Moral Majority and a return of Christian political activism, many of us believed God would turn America around, make ours a godly nation again. Then something happened: a president who didn’t hold to our conservative values was elected president in 1992. That was the moment many Christians started re-thinking the place of political involvement in the Christian life. Was this the government God wanted for America?

During that time I was reading the book of Micah, and I learned something about the way God governs nations. Micah is a very political book. In chapter one, God is angry at Israel and Jerusalem—Micah visualizes God descending to destroy the city (1:3, 4). In chapter two Micah begins to explain why God is angry: the rich are victimizing the poor (2:1, 2). In chapter three God’s anger is turned toward the rulers of the city—leaders, priests, and prophets all (3:9-11). In chapter four Micah gives us an apocalyptic vision of how God will remake Jerusalem into a city of righteousness and goodness (4:1-8). Much suffering will come as God brings about his epic vision (vv. 9-13), but God’s people should prepare for the battle to come (5:1). And then something amazing happens. Micah has built the story of God’s political rule in the world up to a huge climax only to follow it with Micah 5:2.