You may have heard that there’s an election going on in the US today…
From across the Atlantic, and whatever your political persuasion, what’s really noticeable is the change of mood between 2008 and 2012. Four years ago, Barack Obama swept to power on a wave of “Yes, we can”. Whoever wins today will do so on a trickle of “You probably can’t, but you’re less bad than the other guy”.
If Obama does win, as the polls suggest he will, it won’t be, can’t be, with the same flood of optimism as in 2008. Then, he was the man. He would make it better. He would make it different. He was the one who would deliver the change you wanted (whatever change that was).
Of course that hope has become tinged with disappointment. He was and is, after all, only a man. He’d been asked to do too much (and, in fairness, had encouraged voters to think he could do too much).
And as optimism has turned to pessimism, Obama has become a bit of a microcosm for the tension we feel. Because we sense deep down that we need good leadership. That there ought to be someone who can promise real, lasting, deep change, who can heal divisions, who can lead us and of whom we can say not just “Yes he can” but “Yes he did”.
Some voters have given up looking for that kind of leader. They’ve decided he doesn’t exist. They maybe don’t vote at all, or they do so with a detached cynicism.
Others are still looking for that kind of leader. And in a few presidential elections’ time, there’ll be another great-new-hope candidate, a new-and-improved Barack Obama. In a few UK general elections’ time, there’ll be another Tony Blair type of 1997 vintage, promising much, believed much, uniting many. Optimists will once more dance to the polling station.
It’s worth remembering, particularly on election days (whether the mood is generally optimistic or pessimistic, whether it’s 2012 or 2008) that in fact both views are right. Perfect leadership, big and flawless government, is what we need; but perfect leaders and flawless governments are impossible to find.
Both views are brought together only in one place, or rather in one man:
“To us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9 v 6-7).
Neither Obama nor Romney will rule for more than eight years. Democracy itself is only a stopgap. A day is coming (though it may not be this election day) when the US, the UK, the whole world will be ruled by a perfect leader. There’ll be big government then, a perfect monarchy, a ruler who has the wisdom to know what’s best for all, the power to perform what’s best for all, the love to do what’s best for all. The Lord Jesus will say “I am making everything new” (Revelation 21 v 5).
This time tomorrow, one man or another will tell America, and the world, that he will change and improve and transform lives. And each of us will listen either optimistically or pessimistically. Optimists… don’t locate your dreams in the wrong man. Pessimists… don’t let your disappointment become absolute.
There is a man coming who will shoulder the weight of your dreams, and turn around your disappointment.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Carl is Editorial Director at The Good Book Company and is a member of Grace Church Worcester Park, London. He is the best-selling author of The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, and also serves as series editor of the God's Word for You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie, and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.
