We don't need a president. We need a Messiah.

Luke 20:41-44
41 And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? 42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'
44 "Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”

Dear Jesus,

The season of a presidential election in the United States of America always stirs Messianic hopes and dreams in the populace.  Every four years, we find ourselves looking for a savior.  Four years later, we continue looking.

The Jews had done the same thing throughout their history.  The difference is that God had promised them a Savior.  A Messiah would come.  But when He came, they imagined a Messiah of a different sort.  They did not want the Messiah God gave them.  They could not construe a Messiah who was a son of David, yet his Lord.  They could not construe the incarnate Son of God, come to be the Savior of the world.  They wanted a political, economic, and military leader, not a Savior.  They wanted an earthly nation, not a spiritual kingdom.

We don't need a president.  We need a Messiah.

"I'll vote for the person who can fix this mess!"

"The next leader had better control our borders.  If you don't have a border, you don't have a country."

"China is buying up our $19 trillion national debt.  Pretty soon the capital of the USA will be in Beijing!"

The Jewish Messianic hope is the hope of all nations.  However, we distort our need for a Messiah into a temporal military, economic, and political leader.  A king, a fuhrer, a despot, an emperor, a new Congress, a president. The cycle of disappointment, frustration, and hope continues.

The Jews did not need a king.  They needed a Messiah.  And when Messiah came, the people crucified Him.

Help me not to misplace my Messianic hopes in flawed humanity.  Only the Word made flesh is worthy of such adoration.  Only Jesus, the Lamb of God, can clean up this mess; and You require eternity, a new heaven and a new earth to accomplish Your purpose.

We don't simply need a president.  We need more than political and international stability and prosperity. We need a Messiah, and a president does not qualify!  Lord, guide the path of our nation. Preserve us from the judgment we deserve.  Spare us from the tyranical, evil leaders we deserve.  Protect our land, and grant us another opportunity to repent and experience revival.  Help us, the church, to place our deepest hopes, longings, and aspirations in Jesus, our Messiah, rather than in an elected official who will change in four more years.

In the Name of Jesus, our only Messiah,
Amen.