Barack Obama...an answer to prayer.

I have been thinking about writing this post, and since Barack Obama will be declared tonight to be the next president of the United States, I thought this would be a good time to write this.

As my post title suggests, what I want to comment on here is the possibility that Barack Obama might be an answer to prayer. If you are like me, over the past several weeks you have received various emails from well intentioned people regarding the need for us as Christians to pray for our country - to pray for God's best and for his will to be done in our nation. As I have considered what we are praying for in this, I have realized that for many Christians the answer they hope to receive from God in response to these prayers is the election of the right people for political office - in other words, the ones that they believe best reflect their own Christian values and beliefs. 

My point in this post though, is that although I believe the motives and intentions are good with this, I am not sure that if this happened, that this would provide our country with the greatest potential for God's Kingdom to be advanced. As a result, this may not be the best way for these prayers to be answered. 

On the other hand, if Barack Obama is going to lead and usher in a devastating time of desperation, as so many Christians that I have talked to lately have claimed, could it be that this would actually be more beneficial to God's Kingdom as it relates to advancing it in our country? Could it be that God would actually prefer an Obama lead downfall (again I am not saying that is inevitable, I am only basing that on the comments shared with me by so many Christians that I have talked to), because in the desperation people would be more receptive to turning to the Lord than they would have been in prosperity? I don't think God desires for us to suffer or go through times like some people anticipate us going through with an Obama presidency. However, I do believe that God is much more interested in our walking with Him than anything else - including our prosperity and ease of life. Also, he is more interested in our lives counting in his Kingdom than he is in our comfort.

So could Obama actually be a more promising answer to the prayers for God's will that were offered over the past few weeks? I suppose we will find out.