Derek Atkins: Reflections on US Presidential Election Outcome

 

Here is a short reflection by an American EAST resident faculty, Rev Derek Atkins on his personal response to the recent US Presidential Election outcome. May it cause us to pray diligently for our political and governmental leaders–local or global–as instructed by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-3. 

Dear fellow Americans, good morning from Singapore.

I have been watching the election results throughout the day. Given that recent headlines were predicting this race would be a “coin toss,” I am surprised to see that Donald Trump won the race. I know many of you are happy at this result, and many of you are saddened by this outcome. For the record, I did not vote for either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump–I casted a write-in ballot for Condolezza Rice as President and Kay Bailey Hutchinson as Vice President.

At this time, I want to wish Mr. Trump all the best as he begins to prepare for his second term as President, and I pledge I will pray for him, as I have for all Presidents, whether Republican or Democrat. I foresee that the next four years will bring many difficult issues across Mr. Trump’s desk (just as it would have had Ms. Harris won the race), and he needs all the prayers for wisdom we can offer as he makes consequential decisions for our nation, and indeed, for the entire world, insofar as American decisions affect other nations.

At the same time, there are a number of issues on which I disagree with Mr. Trump. (And honestly, who among us agrees 100% with any President, even with one who’s from our own party?) This is another reason why I will be praying for President Trump in the coming years: Following his first assassination attempt, Trump indicated that he was re-evaluating his relationship with God, and I hope he is indeed looking to the Lord for guidance and wisdom, which I also believe is something that all of us need to be doing, regardless of our station in life.

There will be time in the coming days and weeks to take stock of all the results from this year’s election, including the outcomes of Senate, House, and gubernatorial races, as well as the outcomes of various referendums. All of these results shed light on the current state of our hearts and minds and are worth reflecting on. So, I wish to encourage each one of you to take time to reflect carefully on the results of yesterday’s elections, and to consider what lessons we can learn.

My best wishes to all of you, regardless of who you voted for!

 

The above was extracted with permission from Derek Atkins’s Facebook page which he posted on 7 November 2024. 

The personal opinion expressed by the author in the above post does not necessarily reflect the view of East Asia School of Theology.