Wednesday, April 29 — Pray for the Ones You Didn't Vote For

There is a name right now that makes your jaw tighten when you hear it on the news. Maybe a president, maybe a governor, maybe a local school board member. Paul has an instruction for you about that name, and it's going to sound harder than it reads.

1 Timothy 2:1-8 — KJV

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. 8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

1 Timothy 2:1-8 — WEB

1 I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony in its own times, 7 to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.

Explanation

Remember who the "king" was when Paul wrote this. Most scholars place 1 Timothy in the mid-60s AD, which means the man on the throne was Nero — the emperor who would, by the end of the decade, roll Christians in pitch and burn them as garden torches. And Paul, who was going to be beheaded on that same emperor's orders, writes to young Timothy: first of all, pray for kings. Not last. Not when you feel like it. First of all.

He names four kinds of prayer — petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings. Then he gives the reason: that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. Paul is not naive. He knows emperors can make life hell. But he knows something else: if the people in power are pressed on by the prayers of the saints, even their worst policies get complicated by the strange weather of grace.

And then the reason behind the reason — God desires all people to be saved. Even Nero. Even the ones we have written off. Even the ones whose faces make us change the channel. The one mediator between God and men gave Himself a ransom for all. If Christ's blood is wide enough to cover the kings, our prayers had better be wide enough to name them.

Paul closes with a detail that feels personal: lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting. He knows how we pray about politicians. With clenched fists. Through gritted teeth. With a little smug hope that God might actually smite this one. Paul says: stop. Pray without anger. Unclench. Open the hands. The praying posture is the healing posture.

This is the higher patriotism in its practical form. Earthly patriotism roots for its side and wants the other side to lose. Higher patriotism prays for the other side because God does. You can disagree with a leader's policies with everything in you, and you can still pray for their soul, their family, their wisdom, their protection. In fact, if you can't, Paul would suggest your patriotism isn't yet high enough.

Try this today. Whatever name makes your jaw tighten — pray it. Not through gritted teeth. Pray that they would meet Christ. Pray that their children would be well. Pray that they would make one good decision today. You may not change the country that way, but God will almost certainly change you.

Thought for the Day. You cannot hate a person and pray for them honestly at the same time. Prayer is the slow, quiet retraining of our hearts toward people God has not given up on.

Reflection Question. Whose name do you most need to add to your prayer list this week — and what would it cost you to pray for them without anger?

Prayer. Lord, we confess that we pray with clenched hands more often than open ones, especially about those in authority. Teach us to pray without anger. Teach us to lift up names we'd rather not. Remind us that You desire all people to be saved — even the ones we have already dismissed. Make us higher patriots in the only place that matters, on our knees. In Jesus' name, Amen.

This week we walk toward Sunday's lesson: The Higher Patriotism.