Trump Acts Fatherly
Trump Acts Fatherly
By Benham Brothers
Fathers matter.
The issues we face as a nation can be directly traced back to a lack of fathers. As a matter of fact, Scripture is clear that the land “suffers a curse” when fathers turn their hearts away from home:
“He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:6).
Can you imagine being a dad and coming home after a long trip overseas helping widows and orphans, only to realize your daughter is snorting cocaine in the bedroom with two strangers, many of your belongings in the house have been stolen, your sons are arguing to the point of coming to blows, your neighbor is using your backyard to run his business with access to your bank account, your wife has agreed to let your daughter’s friends sleep over until they find work, and your front door has been removed by the HOA in an effort to grant easy access to those who may need shelter?
What would any good father do at that moment?
Would he ignore the situation and simply seek to help others?
Or would he turn his heart toward home and straighten the place out?
Good dads see danger and step up to provide and protect. They stand up and do something about the cheating, stealing, arguing, corrupting and even killing that’s going on inside the house. Good dads don’t carelessly turn away to do other things, no matter how noble the cause “out there” may be. And they certainly don’t apologize to the bad guys for having rules and order in their home.
After the first full week of Trump’s presidency, it sure seems he’s focused on getting everything inside “our house” back in order. Now, we don’t know him personally and certainly don’t agree with some of his past actions and statements – we pray he encounters Jesus. But what we do know is that for several years we’ve prayed that God would awaken the hearts of fathers in this nation, across every sphere of culture. That God would place leaders in positions of influence that would lead as fathers for future generations.
Scripture is clear God does this very thing: “That the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17).
And God can use anyone He wants to accomplish this, including those who don’t know Him: “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him … I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge Me” (Isaiah 45:1,4).
Although President Trump’s past actions indicate he does not know the Lord (we’re still waiting to see if his profession of faith a few months ago is genuine), we believe God has raised him up with the spirit of a good father whose heart is toward home.
Not surprisingly, many pundits continue to slam Trump as “dark and inwardly focused.” They say he’s “turning his back on the world.”
Uh, have they looked around lately? Our nation is a macro reality of our micro story above. We’re weak and compromised. And we need a leader willing to step in like a good father to get things straight.
Can you imagine running a race only breathing out and never taking a breath in? You wouldn’t last long. Breathing in is vital, and now is the time for America to take a big, deep breath in.
By focusing on American interests first, President Trump is doing what any good father would do in his own home if things were falling apart. Interestingly, fatherhood has been a theme for him throughout the whole election season.
When asked to state one nice thing about Mr. Trump in the final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton responded that Donald was devoted father whose children were good people who work hard.
When grilled about why he chose to serve as Trump’s running mate, then-Gov. Mike Pence said, “You can’t fake good kids.”
Pundits and politicians as well, on both sides, agree that Trump’s kids love and adore him, and some probably jealously long for the same thing in their own home. (I know we’d like our kids to love us that way.)
From a spiritual perspective, the book of Isaiah records the story of Israel forgetting God, and spiritual/moral darkness cursed the land as a result. So God stepped in with a political shift from one leader to another – and the qualification for the shift was this new leader would act as a “father to the house of Israel” (Isaiah 22:21).
We believe what we are witnessing today is a similar political shift through a man who does not know God but is acting very much like a father in his first few days as president.
Because fathers matter, we’re praying for our president. And we pray God continues to raise up spiritual leaders that are bold enough to act like fathers in their communities as well.