It seems that all of a sudden the nation of the United Kingdom has been thrown into complete chaos. On Friday morning the result of the EU referendum came out and there was a clear, albeit small, majority to leave the EU. This came as a surprise and shock to most. Since then the Prime Minister has announced his intention to resign, the Labour party is in meltdown, and the United Kingdom looks as though it might break-up. Now we need a degree of calmness, things are often not as traumatic as they seem, and there may be a return to some sort of order before too long, or there may not. However, here are some Biblical perspectives on the matter, mostly on how we should react.
Yesterday my reading of Psalms took me to Psalm 46. Go and read all of it. The psalm starts by declaring that God is our refuge and strength, secure whatever the danger. Then it speaks of the nations being in uproar. Finally it closes with the well known words “Be still and know that I am God”. We are seeing how quickly a superficially sound structure can suddenly be thrown into chaos. The things we are seeing are not just the result of one referendum decision, but have built up over many years, and the referendum has brought them all to a head. But we see how quickly things can change, and how little control we have.
In Haggai 2:1-10 we read of God shaking the nations. In the midst of that God’s servants are told not to fear, and it is all in the context of God’s plans for His people and His glory being fulfilled. Now we need to be careful not to overreact to current events, they may be of far less significance than we imagine, but we certainly should beware of fear taking over.
Finally, a verse in 2Tim 2:4 has been very much on my mind.
No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs; rather they try to please their commanding officer.
For some of us (myself included) there is a great temptation to express our opinions on matters, and there certainly is a place for Christians being involved in politics. There is also a time to keep out of it. I do not want to be identified with Leave or Remain, I want to be identified with Christ. There is a time to realise that events are moving in such a way that the most important thing is that we are ready to do Christ’s bidding in the midst of them, unencumbered by any political labels. I stress again that I am not saying Christians should not get involved in current affairs, Paul says at the end of the section containing the above verse in 2 Tim 2:7
Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
Let each one of us be still before the Lord and listen to the commands He has for us today.
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