During times of discontinuous change, like we are experiencing right now, human nature is to look to leadership to solve our problems. This is nothing new. Soong- Chan Rah, in Prophetic Lament, explains this is what happened when Israel was taken into captivity by Babylon. The captive Israelites looked for leaders to give them easy answers to fix the challenges they were facing. He goes on to explain that the leaders with easy answers are the false prophets that Jeremiah warns against.
There are many parallels to what we are experiencing today. While we have not been taken into captivity by a rival nation, we are facing uncertainty and struggle, and most of us are looking for the easy way out. Human nature is to look for the path of least resistance. While, Rah explores the Jewish nation in exile, he connects to similar trends in North American Christianity. “It is the same message that so many American Christians want to hear: they are still in control, there is no need for judgment, and there is no suffering. But easy answers that offer false hope are not solutions.”
Now, in the middle of a contentious election season, I can’t help but be concerned by the hope and fear on both sides of the political divide. It seems that people are fixated on either the hope of what their candidate can do to fix the United States or fixated on the fear of how the other side is going to destroy the country. Focusing on the individuals with such intensity opens the door to believing the false hopes of false prophets.
None of the candidates will save us or fix us, and we will be disappointed if we place our hopes in them.
Leonce Crump in Renovate explains who we can place our trust in. He writes, “the alternative then is not only to trust the promises of God but to continually acknowledge our longing and know in whom to place our expectation of its fulfillment. The only leader adequate to usher in the future era of holistic healing of God’ creation and human flourishing is God Himself.”
God is our only hope. His coming Kingdom is when we will realize the fulfillment of all His promises and our longings. In the meantime, though, leaders have the opportunity of working towards the Kingdom today. If leaders can recognize where the true power of flourishing is rooted, they can move into the adaptive leadership that is needed on earth until the fulfillment of God’s promises.
KATHY PIERBURG 