Well, it’s over! Perhaps like me you felt that the day was never going to arrive and by the time it did you were rather sick of all the shouty debates, the over-extravagant claims and the wild predictions of fear and collapse that each side threw at each other.
Well, it did come. Millions did vote in the EU Referendum and the result has left many people in a state of shock, not just here but across Europe and the world. The stock markets have fluctuated widely as they do when anything unexpected happens; we now need a new Prime Minister and the opposition Labour Party is in disarray as well! It seems that we are in a for a long period of uncertainty.
I don’t know how you deal with that. I’ve heard lots of ordinary people being interviewed on the TV or radio and many seem confused, angry, perplexed, even frightened about the future. The world they knew has changed and they don’t know where to turn for security.
King David, the writer of many of the Psalms, knew a lot about uncertainty. Despite being an incredibly loyal servant, his predecessor, Saul, sought to kill him and hunted him like a wild animal. What’s more, the country was beset by powerful enemies on every side, and when he became King, David had to endure a revolt from within his own family. However you feel about the referendum result, things haven’t got that bad for us, have they?
But David knew that although circumstances change – though times can be unsettling and that troubles and trials come and go – he could rely on God no matter what happened. In Psalm 18 he wrote these words:
“I love you Lord my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and my salvation, my stronghold.”
That is a strong level of confidence, isn’t it? There is no doubt here. This is not a faith for the good times, this is a faith for the worst of times!
And for the Christian, that faith in God is rooted in history. This God who David looked to for security in the storms of life, came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and endured those same storms himself. And because Jesus endured the storm of God’s wrath against sin as he died on the cross, we can now know the deep and perfect peace of God, even when the mountains of our political landscape crumble or when the seas of our own lives turn into raging storms.
And that peace is available to all who trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Perhaps it’s time to cast your vote in his direction? He won’t let you down.