The last week has been difficult to ignore as the Liberal government appeared to go into meltdown. Following a month of announcements by several Liberal Members of Parliament that they were leaving politics and thus not rejoining the party, the Minister of Finance who was also the Deputy Prime Minister handed in her resignation just 3 hours before the Fall economic budget was to be presented. On top of that, it would be a budget that would put Canada into debt at $53.6 billion. The shockwaves immediately generated calls for the prime minister’s resignation both from within the Liberal party and from the other parties. What was interesting to me was that our Prime Minister’s reaction to the entire situation was to go into hiding. He was nowhere to be seen in Parliament; he was absent for the presentation of the Budget; he did not appear to quell any of the rumors swirling around regarding his future and the future of the party. On the following evening at a Liberal Christmas party for supporters and donors, he appeared with a message that addressed none of the issues. Instead, it was a man boasting of his position as Prime Minister, and reveling in the applause of his supporters. He disappeared after the party; Parliament subsequently shut down for 6 weeks for the Christmas holiday. His hiding is now prolonged.
As I think on these things, I understand our Prime Minister’s desire to avoid the questions that are being asked and to hide behind a veil of bombastic confidence and noticeable absence. After all, they are scary questions, and the obvious answers to them are scarier still. My mind went to Psalm 34 when David was in a horribly scary place. Behind him was the murderous spear of King Saul; before him was Abimelech (Achish of Gath) the most powerful of the Philistine kings whose cruelty was legendary (see 1 Samuel 21). Like our Prime Minister, I am sure that the first response was to run and hide. But unlike him, David’s response in the face of a difficult place was to lean on God. First, it was in prayer, “I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). The second was in humility, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard Him and saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6). The third is to bear witness, “Come, O children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 34:11). The first looks to God; the second looks away from ourselves; the third looks to the future. No wonder the Psalmist is able to say, “Blessed are those who find refuge in Him” (Psalm 34:8). I am moved with compassion for our Prime Minister – a man who manifestly does not know God and whose only refuge is the emptiness of his pride, and now the ineffectiveness of his absence. Over the next few weeks as 2024 melts into history and Parliament opens again in 2025, you will hear the demands for answers and the calls for his resignation. What will he do? Where will he hide? And then I think of this season we call “Christmas.” And I pray our Prime Minister, like all who are lost souls running with inflated pride, may encounter the Humble Saviour who came from Heaven to Earth, Incarnate Deity, Hope of the Ages, Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Don’t simply get caught up in the politics. Pray that all may finally find true refuge in God alone. Pray for our politicians. Pray for the salvation of their souls.
Just Church
At Just Church, our message is always to lift up Jesus, the Only One in whom our souls can hide. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
