HOW TO PRAY FOR OUR RULERS AS THEY RULE
Dear Friends,
I usually write a blog every Friday and it appears in your inbox the next day. I have done something different for the two blogs before the U.S. election and the one after the U.S. election; I have written all three blogs on October 23rd. I wanted my blogs to not be affected by who was leading and who won. The U.S. appears to be deeply divided, and it would be a shame if the church divides over the election. Canadian Christians should pray for the people of the US and this election. It is good to think about how to pray biblically for “rulers”, with some distance from the specific outcome of an election. The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders, regardless of how good or bad these leaders are in God’s eyes. In each of these blogs I am going to be informed by the English Reformation, using prayers from the mid-1500’s and found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. One key feature of these written prayers is that they are “fill-in-the-blank”. In other words, the same prayer is to be prayed ruler by ruler, with you putting in the name of the current ruler. The prayer is not changed ruler by ruler. Let’s look at the prayer entitled “A Collect for the Queen”. As intended, I will change the names in the prayer to reflect our purpose today.
“Almighty and everlasting God, we are taught by Your holy word, that the hearts of kings are in Your rule and governance, and that You can and do dispose and turn them as it seems best to Your Godly wisdom: we humbly beseech You, so to dispose and govern the heart of Justin (our Prime Minister), Doug (our Premier), Jim (our Mayor), Maxime (our Mayor), and Donald (President of the U.S.), Your servants, that in all their thoughts, words, and works they may ever seek Your honour and glory, and study to preserve Your people committed to their charge, in wealth, peace, and godliness: grant this, O merciful Father, for Your dear Son’s sake, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Once again, this is a prayer to pray and a concise theology. A few points.
First, you are reminded that God has not relinquished His sovereignty over the earth, or over the nations. This is easy to forget and important to remember. The state and its power is in the news and in your face. The Triune God has hidden Himself from your sight. Rulers spend much time and money reminding you of their authority and how they will yield it. It is only through the Bible, God’s word written, that you are reminded that the Triune God is sovereign, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The rulers of this world, everyone of them, is truly and ultimately “under God’s rule and governance” and the Lord, whenever He pleases, can “dispose and turn them as seems best to His wisdom”. Whether they acknowledge it or not, the ruler is a servant of the living God, not master of their own country. They may be an evil and rebellious servant, or one who seeks to be a good and faithful servant, but either way, they are servants who will one day have to give account of their stewardship to the Lord God almighty.
Second, you are reminded that the government exists for God’s purposes. It is not the case that the nation is like a church, but it is the case that God has purposes for other institutions apart from the church. In a sense, the purposes of government are not to be invented out of the will of the people, the state, or the party, but are to be discovered. Why? The Triune God truly does exist and He created human beings to have political/social structures, therefore we need to discover and rediscover His purposes. This prayer lists a few of God’s purposes for the state: that the people of the land will enjoy the blessings of wealth, peace and godliness. The specifics of government, culture, and economy can change according to context (Feudalism? Tribes? Nations? Agrarian? Communes? Capitalism? Kings and Queens? Presidents? Prime Ministers? Emperor? etc.) But, God’s purposes endure.
Third, you are reminded that the rulers are responsible for their actions and will be judged by God. The prayer does not say that God constantly overrules the mind and will of the ruler so that everything the ruler does is to be seen as God’s action. Rulers are to rule. You are to pray for rulers in the hope that God will move them to rule in ways that preserve the people and promote the wealth, peace and godliness of the nation as a whole. So while rulers are to rule according to God’s good purpose, they often do not, and God can “intervene” in the nation according to the prayers of His people and His wisdom and mercy. It is important to pray for rulers.
Finally, remember who the Triune God is and what He has done. He is the same God who delivered Israel out of salvery in Egypt in the days of Moses; defeated the hosts of Midian in the days of the Gideon; foiled Haman’s plans and changed the Emperor of Persia’s heart in the days of Esther; rose Jesus from the dead in the days of the Roman Empire. So please pray for Canada. Pray for our friends to the south. And oh yes, please pray that despite the divisiveness in the US (and here) that the Lord will grow the bonds of affection between all true Christians and between the Gospel gripped churches of which they, and you, are a part.
George+