“There’s no one to vote for.”

I’ve heard it over and over. I’ve even said it a few times.

“There’s no good choice for our next President. What are we going to do?”

I admit, I have moments when I think about the future with uncertainty and no small amount of anxiety. I heard someone ask how we as a nation got to the point where our two choices for President are the two left.

And yes, I was hoping and even praying months ago that God would bring out a strong leader from the United States who would just blow us all away with their leadership and integrity and dignity. Someone like Moses in the scriptures, or even Noah, or like the Apostle Paul.

And then I got to thinking…would I have even voted for any of them?

Would I have voted for Moses? The guy who didn’t really know where he belonged? The one who was born a Hebrew but raised in splendor as a royal Egyptian, and then left it all? Would I have voted for Moses when I found out he’d killed someone and ran?

By human standards, Moses was not really leadership material. He could hardly speak. He was married to a non-Israelite. He was just a shepherd from nowhere. Would I have voted for him? Would I have even considered him?

God did. God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. And God allowed Moses to continue showing his own human-ness and imperfections as the Israelites fledged around the wilderness. Yet God still used Moses. Through Moses and his staff, God did many miraculous works.

I’ve read his story so many times. So many times, in fact, that I forget the humanity of Moses and even the Israelites. They’d waited in slavery for so many years that they had to be skeptical of his leadership. If I’d been there, I can’t say that I’d have voted for Moses.

If he were here today, mumbling and sweating his way through a debate, he’d be touted as weak. If he insisted on letting his brother speak up for him, he’d be laughed off the ticket.

Would I have voted for Noah? The “crazy” who predicted rain when it had never even sprinkled ? Would I have believed him? Would I have helped him build his strange contraption called an ark, or would I have given up after the first 50 years?

Noah didn’t have a huge following…of the human kind. As a matter of fact, no one but his family followed him onto that ark full of animals. The world was so corrupt that God decided to wash it clean with a flood. However, Genesis 6:8 tells us that “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” Through Noah and his unwavering faithfulness, God showed the world that His promises will never fail.

Noah’s story is so much more than a child’s Sunday School tale. It’s a true story of a man’s blind faith and trust in a Father who is still God when the world seems to have turned its back on Him. If I’d been there, I don’t know that I would have stood behind Noah and his ark.

If he were here today, Noah would be ridiculed in every shape and form on all social media known to man. He’d have his own Twitter hashtag of harrassment, there’d be memes for days, and he probably wouldn’t even make it to the debate stage. He’d be too busy building anyway.

Would I have voted for Paul? I’ll go ahead and say it right now…

No.

This one…this one gets to me.

I would’ve been too scared to vote for Paul…formerly Saul, killer of Christians. I would’ve questioned his honesty, his sincerity, his changed heart. I would’ve doubted his whole Damascus Road experience as a hoax to “get support” from followers.

Paul was not a stranger to the role of leadership. Formerly Saul of Tarsus, he was a leader in the persecution of the early Christian church until he was temporarily blinded and permanently changed by God on the road to Damascus, where he was headed to persecute Christians. From that moment on, Saul became Paul, and he set the world on fire for the Christ who had invaded his heart. He wrote many letters of the New Testament, and shared God’s word until he died his own death of persecution.

If Paul were running today, he’d have his work cut out for him. He’d have some convincing to do…to show the followers of Christ that he was who he said he was. Would there be enough time to change the hearts of so many doubters and skeptics? Would I even be listening to him or would I be too busy running for the hills?

This is not a political blog post. I am not telling you who to vote for. This is a post about how it’s not late or too hopeless for God to change a nation. If God could use people like Moses, Noah, and Paul to change the world, could He not use anyone today? He placed regular, imperfect people in specific places in time and chose to use them to change history forever.

Even when His people doubted, when they strayed (faaarrrrr from Him), and when they feared, God gave them a new start. And He used flawed people to do it. He can still do that today.

No matter who’s on the ticket!

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” Exodus 3:14

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God…” Romans 1:1

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus Christ, John 16:33