The passing of Issue 1 this week was a heartbreaking defeat for the pro-life movement, a devastating expansion in the culture of death in Ohio, and a sobering indication of the moral collapse of our society. Many of us are rightly troubled and wondering how to think about this, how to deal with our own emotions, and how to respond.
First, we should lament. We might define lament as a God-centered, biblically-informed, love-motivated prayer of sorrow, pain, and/or confusion. The psalms provide a number of examples. Psalm 73 is helpful in that it expresses all three—sorrow, pain, and confusion. I’ve previously written a brief exposition of Psalm 73 on this blog, which you may find helpful. Here, let me just recap a couple of critical points.
- It seems to be right and good to express to God confusion and mourning over the success of the wicked. How could it not be? God is good and does what is right. In a world owned by Him, it should be confusing when evil progresses and the wicked prosper. If we love God and His image in man, we should mourn when men rebel against Him and deface His image in man.
- Lament confesses the temptations inherent in recognizing injustice. We are tempted to lose heart, seek revenge, give up, trust our own understanding, and perhaps a million other responses that would represent a lack of hope and faith in Him.
- Lament looks to God for understanding, justice, comfort, and hope.
So, we should pray to God expressing all the things we’re thinking and the ways we’re being tempted, while looking to Him for help.
Second, we should reminds ourselves of our true hope. Our ultimate hope is not that the United States would be the greatest nation on earth and a bastion of liberty forever. That is a commendable thing to desire, but as Hebrews 11:16 depicts, we have “a better country, that is, a heavenly one." When we keep this in mind, all manners of catastrophe can befall us without our being demoralized and hopeless.
Injustice has taken place. In a sense, our state has just championed a holocaust. However, hope is not merely sanctified wishing looking forward to the certain fulfillment of promises made by a God who cannot lie. The foundation of our faith and the hope of our lives is the certain return and reign of Christ, who will bring justice to all.
Just after the great turning point of the lament in Psalm 73, the author writes, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (v26). “My portion forever” assumes an eternal inheritance that is the Lord. That is our great hope. As we lament evil, we should hope in the return of the one who will make all things right.
Third, we should believe the truth about God. In times like these, it is tempting to think wrong things about God. It is necessary to intentionally ponder His revealed attributes, including that He is sovereign, good, and wise (Eph 1:11; Psa 145:17; Rom 16:27). That is, He controls all things to achieve the best ends possible by the best means possible. These truths undergird the psalmist’s trusting the Lord with justice: “For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you” (Psa 73:27). No one cares more about human life and is more dependable in judgment that Him (Gen 9:5-6; Psa 33:5). For us to question Him in an accusatory way is to assume we know better, want better, are better than Him. When we don’t understand, the best place to land is to recognize to Him, “We don’t understand; but we trust You.”
Fourth, we should recognize that our role and responsibility have not changed. Perhaps the vote on Tuesday reveals a depth of self-love and disregard for life in our culture that is worse than we thought. While it is important and helpful have a more accurate understanding of what we are up against, nothing has changed in terms of our part in the struggle.
We should still:
- Pray. The Scriptures attach outrageous promises to the call to pray. Matthew 21:22 is one: “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” The temptation of many is to emasculate this promise with a mountain of theological caveats. Consider what might happen if we prayed as if there are none. Let us pray for miraculous interventions in the hearts of abortion doctors, for sensitized consciences in the hearts of tempted mothers and fathers, and for a spiritual revival to sweep the land.
- Evangelize and speak the truth. The surest way to turn the tide on abortion is to see a tidal wave of conversion in response to the faithful gospel witness of the church. “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). This is true, and it is the first mandate of the risen Christ (Matt 28:19-20) whether abortion is legal or not. Out of compassion for lost souls, let us be faithful to be speak nothing but truth, boldly and winsomely, believing that a truly righteous population is more God-honoring than a merely outwardly righteous one.
- Champion life. By this, I mean support all legal means of curbing mass murder. There are pro-life organizations committed to doing everything legally possible to circumvent the Issue 1 amendment. Christians can support these organizations through donations of time and money.
We trust in a God who does all things for His own glory and the good of His people. Let us live as people who know how the story ends and who understand themselves to play significant roles in getting there. May our great God bring about a better day by His power through our faithfulness.
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