Reflections on the 14th Malaysian General Elections

There are three Scripture passages that encapsulate my thoughts about the recently-concluded 14^th General Elections in Malaysia.

Firstly, Psalm 126:

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dream.
² Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us;
    we are glad.

⁴ Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like streams in the Negeb!
⁵ Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!
⁶ He who goes out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    bringing his sheaves with him.

This election brings to focus my love for Malaysia, which has only increased in these many years since I left it as a secondary school student. To see the fall of a corrupt and greedy government in the face of all expectation to the contrary causes much gratitude. There has been weeping in supplication for the country, now indeed there are shouts of joy at what the Lord has accomplished. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are indeed glad.

The second passage I also messaged in our Cell WhatApp group – Psalm 146

Put not your trust in princes,
    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
⁴ When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
    on that very day his plans perish.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
⁷     who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

I

t is the Lord we ultimately trust in – not in politicians, no matter how well-intentioned, how principled, or even how Christian. The Lord is the one who “rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ (Da 5:17). The Lord is sovereign over all. Every government of every country is there by His good intent. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The final passage is Psalm 73:

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
³ For I was envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵ They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them as a garment.
⁷ Their eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸ They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find no fault in them.^[a]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹² Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
¹³ All in vain have I kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ For all the day long I have been stricken
    and rebuked every morning.
¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶ But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I discerned their end.

¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

This reminds me that the wicked seem to get away with their evil deeds for a while, and in fact may seem to die after a long and happy life while the righteous suffer and die early (Ecc 7:15). When feel satisfaction at the punishment of the wicked and the vindication of the righteous, I am reminded that earthly justice is only a shadow of divine judgement, when at the end of time, every wrong will be paid for and made right, and every good deed rewarded. All the satisfaction we can feel now is only a shadow of what we will feel on that Day!