Bad news in Victoria:
The night has not been a good one for Christians, for conservatives, and for those who value freedom, family and other key values. The short story is this: Labor’s vote went down. The Lib’s vote went down. The vote of some others (Teals, Greens, independents) went up. The Greens for example took some seats away from Labor. But despite all this, Labor managed to stay in power, and it looks to retain a majority in the lower house.
If you are pro-faith, pro-family, and pro-freedom, it was another bad election result. It is getting to be a broken record, certainly in places like Victoria. In simple political terms, the Liberals have lost 6 out of the last 7 state elections. One wonders if they will ever recover, given their pathetically weak and useless ability to be a viable opposition.
It would seem clear that Matthew Guy will have to step down, with two losses in a row (although recall that Jeff Kennett had also lost twice). But it is not just the leader, but the whole party: it is utterly hopeless. They believe in nothing, stand for nothing, and have no conservative convictions whatsoever. So why even bother?
Yes, Labor went down in votes (around 7 per cent all up), but it was not enough to see them moved along. And the absolute worst part of course is that Dan Andrews easily got back in. Four more years of his tyrannical reign. If Victoria is not already irredeemably damaged, it will be now.
In the lower house it is simply darkness and defeat. As always however, it will be a while before we see how the upper house fares. Will some of the freedom and family candidates and parties get some wins on the board? Time will tell. If we get a few more of these folks in, that will be the one bright spot of this election. Otherwise it has been bad news indeed.
Politics is important, but God is everything
As always, one has to bring God back into the picture. He has not jumped off the throne, and he has not stopped being sovereign. But when horrible political outcomes like this take place, it is easy to get our eyes off God and to become overwhelmed and appalled. I feel it too. Many do.
But Andrews and Labor are not divine and they are not eternal. Their days are numbered. Soon they will be all but forgotten. But Christ and his rule continues forever. That is what we must hold on to. Politics is temporary, and we will win some and lose some. But God’s eternal purposes will not be thwarted.
We now need to trust God even more, we need to pray even more, we need to see the big picture even more. Things will get worse before they get better. If we cannot trust God now we will be in a hard place in the days ahead as the forces of darkness accelerate and expand.
God is clearly testing his people, while he judges a godless and immoral state. And sadly God’s people in Victoria suffer along with everyone else. It was the same when God judged Israel and carried off so many into exile. Godly prophets along with members of the remnant also had to go through all that. But their situation did not last forever.
So now is not the time to despair. Now is the time for God’s people to get on their faces before God and repent. It is the time for them to get their priorities right. It is the time for them to stop playing games and pursuing their trivial pursuits. It is time for them to put Christ first – completely first.
In light of this depressing night, it is worth keeping in mind some basic biblical truths. For example Psalm 2:1-6 says this:
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
And in Revelation 19:6-7 we read this:
Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory.
It is also worth offering a slight adaptation of Habakkuk 3:17-18:
Though the Andrews government be reelected,
and he retains his seat,
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Believers must not cave in now. The fight has gotten harder, the stakes have gotten higher, and the need for prayer has gotten more urgent. But as long as God is on the throne, we have every reason to take heart, to persevere, and to keep on keeping on. That we must do.
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