It’s started already. The political advertising. The muckraking. The anger and finger-pointing. It’s enough to make you consider moving to some other country!

I’m actually a big proponent of throwing out ALL the incumbents since they can’t do their job of negotiating and compromising and running our country. But that’s not realistic and just my response to feeling somewhat powerless.

And maybe, you too question HOW God is moving in all of this.

The “political season” is going to get so much worse before it’s over.

You’d think that after election day is over, it would get better, but I think we’re still arguing about the 2020 elections! I’m not sure if I need Calgon to take it all away or God to come in and do some smiting, but I get frustrated with the whole process.

Don’t you think that’s a little bit how the Israelites were feeling?

They’ve had this judge, Samuel, who has done pretty well by them.

Whooping the Philistines and leading the people with fairness and justice. But he’s getting old. His boys who would normally take over from him weren’t as good of leaders as he was. They were open to bribery.

They were dishonest and twisted justice to suit their needs. The people of Israel saw that and were not happy.

They went to Samuel and said “We don’t want your sons as judges. We want a king like everybody else!”

Samuel takes this demand to God and God tells Samuel that the people aren’t rejecting Samuel as much as they are rejecting God himself.

They don’t want God as the leader of their lives.

Samuel goes back to the people and says everything that God told him and all the reasons NOT to have a king. He tells them about taxes and how they won’t have control over their livelihoods anymore.

Yet the people say “Give us a king!” And God tells Samuel to give the people their king. Big surprise… everything goes pretty much as Samuel told the people it would.

Is that us in America? Have we turned our backs on God and decided to go our own ways? Is God letting us reap as we have sown? We have become so full of agendas and sides and positions and platforms that we’ve forgotten that our government is for ALL the people. The negotiations from elevated positions of power need to take into account the least and the lost. Our leaders should be moral and upright examples for us. God wants rulers who will govern fairly and with justice.

That goes through all our offices: village/city/township, county, state, federal.

So as we struggle through another season of elections, I invite you to pray. To pray that our representatives from the smallest township or school board to the biggest city — from our

local communities to our country — might feel the weight of the people that they represent. That they might make decisions based on the common good and not how many votes they will gain or lose. That they will remember that we send them to SERVE and not be served. And then I encourage you all to vote. Our next opportunity is April 2nd. It’s a ways off yet, so we have time to prepare.

Pray frequently! Pray that a spirit of compromise might descend upon our country. Pray that the cries of the people might be heard. Pray that leaders’ hearts may be led by God’s nudgings and principles whether they acknowledge God as their Lord or not. Just pray.

Peace to you, my friends!

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Kelly Jahn is pastor of the Juda Zion Community Church.