“No matter who wins tomorrow, God is still in control.”
The fight for liberation, equity, and justice does not end with this election cycle. Tomorrow’s outcome merely determines HOW the fight continues and just how much energy we’ll need to expend. While spiritual bypassing can offer us comfort in a world of anxious uncertainty, it’s a poor choice in a time such as this.
As Allyson Felecia points out, this is not the time to preach that God is still in control, regardless of the election outcome. “God was in control during slavery. God was in control during Hitler. God was in control when Pharaoh would not let the people go. God is going to be God regardless. God is in control, but people still have control (free will) and power over people’s lives. God is also watching how we use our control to love others and fight against hate.”
Exodus 20:7 says, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.” It’s a familiar verse for many, usually explained to mean that it’s a sin to say g**damn or to call on the name of God/Jesus without intention or meaning. What it actually means, however, is an admonishment to not use the name of God to further your biased, selfish agenda.
We witness it with #45 supporters who declare that DJT and his presidency is both the will and plan of God for our salvation. But it’s also at play when we engage in the dismissive spiritual bypassing offering of “God is in control” to a people who are facing political fears we never imagined witnessing (again) in our lifetimes.
As I pen this the heart of our nation’s capital braces itself, boarding up shop windows and erecting non-scalable fences in anticipation of the outcome. An outcome that, for some of us, would be witnessing yet another seemingly unbearable injustice and, for others, a carte blanche to continue their open hostility against everything not white, straight, and male. In an alternate reality, it’s an outcome that urges a collective sigh of relief that “the worst” is finally over. Only to be followed by the gasp of horror in realizing that perhaps the worst has only just begun.
An outcome that is, in reality, quite negligible when all things are truly considered. Regardless, we must contend with the reality of an administration who aggressively divides its people instead of seeking to unite them. An administration who makes no pretense about being completely self-serving and seemingly prides itself on actively destroying any and all institutions that dare to hold them accountable.
No matter what happens tomorrow, there will still be penance and roosted chickens. We are still a nation at war with and devouring itself. And while we’ll survive it, because Black folks always do, it doesn’t make it any easier to not anticipate the worst in hopes of God’s control.
This is our location and it is here where people are struggling to make sense of things. As such, the responsibility rests with us to uncover hope in this reality as it is and not as we’ve wished it to be. God has never abdicated the throne. She will always be in control. Preacher man, we need something more than that in situations like this.
‘Cause the truth is, we’re anxious because just like we know what God has done and can do, we know what Her people can do, too.
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Grounded and practical, you cut through the parading-as-altruistic spiritual judgment and bypassing that continues to oppress people who want to have a healthy relationship with the Creator based on truth.
Thank you for sharing this and your other posts. I came here on a search about ancestral honor, then found this post also. I’m grateful and look forward to reading more.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. “God is in Control” ranks up there with “It must be God’s will” when humans MESS STUFF UP! Your voice is one I turn to often when God’s people make me question how Christian I can be. Keep them coming.
My sentiments exactly. Keep up the good work.
*praise dancing in my head because these knees hurt*