GOD’S PROVIDENCE AND HUMAN LEADERSHIP

 Bruce Atkinson, PhD

www.virtueonline.org

April 23, 2025

We beseech thee also so to rule the hearts of those who bear the authority of government in this and every land, that they may be led to wise decisions and right actions for the welfare and peace of the world.

(From The Prayers of the People, Holy Eucharist Rite I)

This Anglican congregational prayer from the Book of Common Prayer liturgy begs the question:  how much does God actually rule the hearts and minds of our leaders?  We pray that He does so…  more and more.  However, the evidence indicates that God continues to allow human beings “a lot of rope to hang themselves,” that is, a lot of room for ignorance, foolishness and just plain evil, and this certainly includes those in positions of leadership.  Christians disagree on which leaders are more evil than others but we know that none of them are close to perfect.

In Romans 13, we are told that all leaders hold their positions through the providence of God.  While this is true, it does not mean that God approves either of their position or their functioning in it.

We all exist and continue breathing by the providence of God, and even the existence of evil (and evil leaders) is by the “permissive will of God.”   However, we must emphasize that this does NOT mean that they will lead in the perfect or directive will of God.  God ‘allows’ the rise of tyrants and those like Hitler or Stalin who create horrible holocausts.  But that does not make them in any way good.  We still must oppose their evil ways.

I have yet to track down the origin of the following quote (I was told that the main points were from an article by the late Drew Griffin), but I must say that in this one case, I am in complete agreement:

“We who believe the Bible know that all authority comes from God [Romans 13:1] and no person, from parents to presidents, teachers to tyrants rise to that position apart from God’s providence.   As Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch theologian and politician, once said, ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’’   So God’s providence and control is not in doubt.  The question we’re actually seeking to answer is this:  Does God’s providence equal His approval?

So if the answer is ‘Yes,’ to if God’s providence equals His approval, then God has not only chosen our national leaders (whomever they may be), He must also approve of them and require us to support them as well, regardless of how evil they may be.  The problem with this line of reasoning is that it quickly abandons reason and actually runs counter to the character of God.  In order to navigate this kind of question, we have to understand that God’s providence is absolute, but His approval is not. Otherwise, we would have to say that all the murderous tyrants [and those like Hitler] or even all the lousy forms of government which have existed were in God’s perfect will.  They were not.”  

I propose that sometimes God chooses bad leaders to get our attention toward those things we as believers have disregarded to our detriment (both Archbishop Justin Welby and Pope Francis could have been part of this plan).

God did not create us to be robots under His divine control; for good and/or evil, He gave us some degree of free choice … with which we can do the opposite of His will if we so choose.  In leadership positions, wolves do exist in sheep’s clothing and can deceive (if briefly) even those who are faithful believers (Matthew 7:15, 24:24).

As a bit of an iconoclast, I struggle to some extent with Paul’s clear directive here in Romans 13, and must provide some biblical balance:

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.  Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.  For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”  (Romans 13:1-6, ESV)

To balance out what Romans 13 directs in supporting and obeying our civil leaders, let us examine more of what the Bible reveals about leadership authority.  King David was given his role of authority by God Himself, but David made very clear that it had severe limits:

Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.   4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!  Whose hope is in the LORD their God.  (Psalm 146:2, 4)

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

(Psalm 118:8-9)

And Jesus causes us all to ponder:  "Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21).    I like this quote from my online friend professor Gerald McDermott:   “True faith always must distinguish between what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar, and making that distinction always threatens Caesar.”   Surely this is a true statement… which suggests what?  It means that many of those in politics (including so-called 'evangelicals' who care more about politics than Jesus) want to conflate the two together to the point where we cannot easily tell the difference.  ‘Confuse and deceive’ is exactly the modus operandi of our enemy, the Father of Lies.  So what belongs to Caesar and what does not? 

We must note that in the New Testament, there is zero emphasis and minimal commentary regarding civil government or politics.  This tells me that our “distinguishing what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar” must result in our paying very little attention to Caesar and certainly it means that we are not to expect the government or its leaders (including Trump) to solve our country’s problems— virtually all of which are due to the human predilection to sin.

As members of Christian churches, we are to pray for our civil authorities (all their doings belong to God even though they do not acknowledge it) but we are to waste little other time and energy focusing on what they are doing or how they are doing it.  Of course, they will be untrustworthy; God has said so.  

As Christians, our focus is (or should be) first upon worshiping God, then upon on the Great Commission (Matthew 28), and finally on our own church's work in feeding the poor and healing the sick.   Unless we are clearly called by God to government service, in the main, Christians should ignore ‘Caesar’ except where government interferes in our lives such that we cannot avoid it.  Politics should take up very little of our attention.

It is a matter of priorities.  According to both Jesus and Paul, we are to put first things first; that is, we are to focus on heavenly (spiritual) things, not earthly things.  Jesus told us to seek first God’s Kingdom (Matt 6:33, cf. Col 3:1-4, 2 Cor 4:18) and to seek a closer relationship with Him (John 17:3, cf. Phil 3:7-11, Jer 29:13, Micah 6:8)—and then everything else would work out just fine… that is, according to God’s will.

I am one of those who thinks that church leaders need to be essentially apolitical, as the godly evangelist Billy Graham attempted to be.  Furthermore, Christians in politics need to be absolutely moral in their dealings with other people and to adhere to the scriptures as much as possible in their partisan preferences and platforms.

Bottom line:  As Peter famously said when the proper authorities told him to quit preaching about Jesus, “We must obey God, not men!”  (Acts 5:27-29)

Bruce Atkinson is a practicing psychologist and Christian counselor in the Atlanta area. He earned an MA in theology and a PhD in clinical psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary.  He also has an MS in research psychology from Illinois State University and a BA from Beloit College, WI.  He is a USAF Veteran (medic) who served in Vietnam.  He is also a member of the Anglican Church in North America and is Moderator and contributor to www.virtueonline.org