Every political solution is fatally flawed.

Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.

1 Samuel 12:24

Samuel spoke these words to the brand new “kingdom” of Israel as Saul is renewed king after leading Israel to a victory over their Ammonite oppressors. Samuel is now receding from leadership over the nation, the prophet-priest is fading from prominence. Now the “secular solution” Israel sinfully craved as they looked at other nations around them and demanded a king, has been given to them by God with the reign of Saul. Saul is fatally flawed. So is the system of government known as monarchy. All that sinners control will be marred by sin. It is inevitable. Every political solution is fatally flawed.

Although Samuel had to point out the sinful motivation behind the demand for the king, God still reassured the nation that He will take care of them if they will honor His covenant. It would be tempting to consider what the king had done in deliverance and forget the Lord. But the nation was called to remember God’s great deliverance and to worship the Lord is so doing. This could pull them away from the flawed trust of human government. Every political solution is fatally flawed.

Governments cannot deliver by their own strength. Human power is limited and handicapped. God is all powerful and without any wrong. He uses even broken human systems to bring about His plan, even as humans sin against one another and against Him. Saul would be an example of this, first as a reluctant ruler early in his reign... an insecure, inexperienced leader that God used anyway. Later he would become a power-mad tyrant intent on keeping control, leading to a tragic burnout that nearly wrecked the young nation. Every political solution is fatally flawed. God would use Saul despite his short-comings to keep Israel, His people, prospering.

Though not through the same covenantal commitments, God today is still sovereign over governments. He directs the courses of the nations. He is working it all toward the day when Jesus returns to rule the nations. God is sovereign over the decisions of parliaments, congresses, court systems, prime ministers, generals, and presidents. And even as some of those decisions increase suffering or hurt lives, God still works to make Himself known in the gospel. Nothing will change this truth. Even secular authorities that try to wipe out His purposes fail. And even as it appears that every potential political leader or solution is filled with mistakes and fatally flawed, it all points to our need of a Savior in Jesus! This is especially true in elections, where candidates all look simultaneously too good to be true, and too flawed to lead! It is now that we trust God, not broken people,  to control our lives. Every political solution is fatally flawed!