Each evening before we sleep my wife and I use a prayer guide, and one of the guides invites prayer for concerns around the world. This week we were invited to pray for Zimbabwe, and for the three polictical parties that make up the government of national unity as they work in negotiations for the formation of a new constitution. So we prayed for a document that will promote justice for all people, and basic human rights for all.
Here in the US we are in the midst of an election cycle that will conclude with the election of either President Barak Obama or Gov. Mitt Romney to be the next president of United States. We pray for substance in conversation and debate, and grace in the way the issues are discussed.
Those who have followed life in Zimbabwe for the last number of decades know of the tremendous perseverance of the Zimbabwean people. Those who follow life in the US for the last number of decades know of the perseverance of people as political parties ebb and flow. As a follower of Jesus I am comforted by an early word in the last book of the Bible that He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. No matter the progress on the constitution in Zimbabwe, and I pray for a good outcome, and no matter the outcome of the presidential election in the US, it remains the case: Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth. That means that I can have confidence in practicing Jesus’ behaviors, because He is the true ruler of the kings of the earth. It also means that Zimbabweans and USers need not stress so much about the details of the developments of kings of the earth because… Jesus is the true ruler of those kings.