‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE VOTE…

Tomorrow is Election Day, and I’m wondering: How have you prayed, listened, and invited the Holy Spirit to shape your decisions?

I’ve been thinking about King Solomon, who prayed for wisdom. And frankly, I’ve got some questions for the king.

I wonder what might have happened if Solomon had prayed for love instead of wisdom.

Would he have still accumulated wives, concubines, wealth, and power? Would he have treated so many human beings as possessions rather than people created in the image of God?

Can we talk about misogyny, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and the abuse of power?

And can we ask the harder question: What happens when wisdom is separated from love, and power becomes more important than people?

Would generations have experienced something different if he had asked God to fill his heart with the One who is Love?

Here’s what makes this even more troubling.

Solomon’s request in 1 Kings 3 was actually for a listening, discerning heart (Hebrew lev shomea), not merely intellectual knowledge or clever strategies.

So what happened to Solomon’s listening heart when power, wealth, and the possession of other human beings became part of his legacy?

Of course wisdom matters. But wisdom without love isn’t wisdom at all. It’s just information, and strategy that can become another tool for power.

And that has me wondering about our political leaders.

What if, instead of another speech, another rally, another campaign stop, we saw our leaders spending time in hospitals, prisons, struggling neighborhoods, and places where people are suffering?

What if they listened before they spoke?

And what if we, the voters, listened more carefully to what candidates are actually saying—and, for God’s sake, what they are doing?

Is this how we want our children to speak to others? Is this the kind of world we want them to inherit?

What if our leaders asked, not simply, “How do I win?” but “Who is hurting, and how can I love and serve them?”

I have a Jesus theology that informs my politics. Not a red one. Not a blue one.

The Jesus Way I seek to follow keeps turning my attention toward the people who are too easily forgotten, exploited, dismissed, or left behind.

And it keeps asking something of me, too.

Maybe the question isn’t simply whether our leaders are wise.

Maybe the question is whether their wisdom has learned how to love.

Because if our wisdom doesn’t lead us to love our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable among us, what kind of wisdom is it?

Tomorrow, as we step into the voting booth, what will we pray for and how will that change our world?

With, faith, hope, and especially love,