by Bob Vander Plaats
The following opinion column first appeared in the Nov. 6 edition of the Des Moines Register.
Many Christians are understandably grateful today that Donald Trump, and not Kamala Harris, will serve as our next president.
But make no mistake: America is every bit in need of revival under President Trump as it would have been under President Harris.
For even if our newly elected president were as wise as Solomon and committed to godliness as the Apostle Paul (two charges few would contend), the fact remains our Congress, Supreme Court, and the vast federal bureaucracy that actually governs much of our lives … are not.
In an American culture that has not only turned away from God, but is sprinting in the opposite direction, electing Donald Trump is not our salvation.
As Psalms 146 warns us, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. … Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.”
Trump or Harris, our greatest needs were always the same – repentance and revival.
The Church cannot, must not, sit down now and sigh relief, as if electing Donald Trump were somehow enough. In this election, we may have received a reprieve from some wrong-direction policy positions, but this is a temporary mercy, not a solution.
The bitter division in our country should be evidence enough: This election did not unite America as one nation under God. It may have even made it worse.
What then?
In Christian circles, true heart change – the kind of heart change we need if we’re ever to be “one nation under God” – is called “revival.” And the ballot box doesn’t bring revival – God does. Repentance does. Prayer does.
What America needs is a Church in the spirit of 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Were we to humble ourselves and turn from “wicked ways,” as 2 Chronicles instructs, it would probably look like these instructions from the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2: “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”
The word “repentance” means to turn away or turn around. But the repentance should begin with the Church, living out a spirit of kindness and gentleness that leads to repentance outside the Church. Only then will we see a culture sprinting away from the heart of God turn around and run back toward Him.
Trump or Harris, our greatest needs were always the same – repentance and revival.
Bob Vander Plaats is president and CEO of The FAMiLY Leader, an Iowa-based non-profit that encourages Christians to engage biblically with their government.