Government: God's Anger Or God's Wrath?

I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you? Where now is your king, to save you; where are all your princes, to defend you— those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”? I have given you kings in my anger, and I have taken them away in my wrath.

Hosea 13:9-11

I have been writing and speaking much of late about our capacity to choose, our ability to act, and how our freedom derives directly from this.

I do not deny that much of what I have written has been occasioned by recent political events here in the United States.

We have witnessed the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, a political candidate for the office of President.

We have watched as the elders in the Democratic Party pressure President Joe Biden to step aside and not seek re-election—disregarding the voted will of the people.

We have witnessed the law and the United States Constitution be contorted and contrived beyond all meaning in order to draft criminal charges against Donald Trump.

We have watched the slow-motion tragedy of Joe Biden’s downward spiral into confusion and dementia—and watched as political actors around him sought to alternately disguise and deny his infirmity.

Against such manifold injustice, how does the righteous man respond?

How do I respond?

What do I do?

I have seen Donald Trump get shot. I have watched Joe Biden struggle and fail to get through even a simple press briefing. I have watched political actors of all stripes seeking to exploit both the near tragedy of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the ongoing tragedy that is the elder abuse of Joe Biden.

As we witness our politics devolve into an orgy of the worst aspects of human behavior, what do any of us do?

Can we consent to be governed by such as this? Can we by our silence acquiesce to this?

If we do not consent, if we do not acquiesce, what options remain for us?

Do we simply throw all our energies behind Donald Trump, trusting or perhaps hoping that he will be a “not bad” President?

Do we support instead Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s Vice President and at present the Democratic Party’s presumptive Presidential nominee, trusting or perhaps hoping that she will fare better as President than she has as Vice President?

Do we ignore the lies, the authoritarian impulses, the corruption visible on all sides?

Do we merely accept such as the “necessary evil” of government?

I am uncomfortable to say “yes” to any of this. Yet I am uncertain what other peaceful options remain.

No matter which way we turn, the future of our man-made government is not encouraging.

No matter which way we turn, we are seeing Hosea’s words unfold with cruel certainty.

Do we require any great depth of faith to conclude that the explosion of government injustice we have witnessed of late is well described as an exemplar of God’s anger? Is it at all unreasonable to assess the political turmoil we are seeing as consistent with God’s wrath?

Speaking from the position of faith, can we not fairly say that God has given us flawed and corrupt governors? Can we not also say that God has then taken those governors away from us, leaving in their place ones even more flawed and more corrupt?

Which is God’s anger and which is God’s wrath? Can we even tell? Does it even matter?

In the face of such corruption, confronted by such manifest veniality and viciousness, how does any man live his life in peace?

I do not know.

What I do know is that we are not called to hate one another. We are not called to be divided the one from the other. We are not called to stand apart from one another.

I believe we are called to be one people. I believe we are called to be one community, one society. I believe that political divisions, just like religious denominations, are false and foolish, arbitrary distinctions with no real substance behind them.

I believe we are also called to be a moral people, and a righteous people. I believe we are all called to embrace God and to follow God’s Law. I believe that when people follow God’s Law, man’s laws are superfluous. I believe that when people reject God’s Law, man’s laws are irrelevant.

Believing thus, I am compelled to conclude that all government stands as our failure to live up to that calling. We are not, as a people, either moral or righteous—truth be told, I as an individual am neither moral nor righteous.

This much is certain: If people were as people are called to be we would feel no compulsion to be governed save by God alone.

Yet people are not as people are called to be. Perversely, because we are not as we should be it is not possible for governments to be anything but failures, and reminders of our own failings.

As we are not moral and not righteous, we are foolish to think that others who are also not moral and not righteous can wield government authority in any fashion that is moral and righteous.

I submit the political clown show unfolding before us is ample proof of this singular defect in all government. We are witnessing the absolute certainty that government always expresses our corruption and not our calling.

Where does that leave any of us? If all choices for government are bad choices, what is left?

Regarding government, the only sane choice left to us is whichever choice limits the damage.

Our politics are corroded and corrupt, and our governments at every level are malicious and corrupt. The only choice we have left is to limit the power government can have at every turn. There can be no trusting government, no confidence in man’s laws. We have seen far too many failures of either to ever believe either to be trustworthy.

I pray people will realize this and make their choices accordingly. I pray we will find the means to push back against governments, and to take back the freedoms and the power governments have wrongly taken from us.

I pray we will find it within ourselves to reach out into our communities and build real bonds of love and friendship.

I pray also that people will accept the wisdom of adhering to God’s Law, and following what God has laid out for mankind.

I pray we will find it within ourselves to strive to be the moral and righteous people we are meant to be.

For myself, I pray to find the wisdom and the vision to be a force for doing exactly that.

This much is certain: governments are either instruments of God’s anger or instruments of God’s wrath, and the less we have of government the better we shall be.

We are all better than this. The sooner we accept this the better it will be for everyone.