Put Not Your Trust in Princes

Ancient Rome worshiped the Imperator, and ancient Egypt worshiped the Pharaoh. Modern North Korea worships Kim Jong Un. The rationale has little complexity to it. These rulers were or are men of immense power, relative to their worshipers. Emperor Vespasian could order a man killed or a way of life changed across an entire province or a family made prosperous for a generation. These rulers had or have godhood on a simple proposition: Is not my power as great as a god’s power?

In America, we’ve less of a tradition of this sort of explicit worship. Sure, some political movements have gotten a little enthusiastic for our tastes, but we keep the outright religiosity mostly under wraps. We should not think this makes us immune to ‘putting our trust in princes,’ however. We too have that old temptation.

Have you ever looked at a political movement, at a ruler or prospective ruler, at a party, and thought with hope in your heart that this was the solution? I have. Oh, I wasn’t worshiping, but I thought for a little bit that I was seeing a reversal, a mitigated salvation for America. Therefore, in the lead-in to the 2022 mid-terms, I was all optimistic. Then came the red trickle, the reminder of the studied incompetence and corruption of Republican politicians, and the realization that I had begun to put my trust in princes.

I’ve tried political optimism a fair few times. I tried it in the opening days of COVID. I tried it with the mid-terms, as stated above. I tried it, though this time as a prophylactic to disappointment, when Trump appointed Bondi- a lawyer with ties to Pfizer. Probably you’ve tried it a time or two as well. Power is an enchantment upon our sinful hearts, a promise that man can solve man’s problems man’s way. In all those occasions I list, I was disappointed. As it turned out, I’d put more trust in the rulers of men than their strength and virtue could bear.

Likely you’ve had that moment too. A leader you trusted has disappointed you in precisely the way you didn’t expect (because we’ve grown to expect a fair amount). A president, for instance, has reneged on the bits of foreign policy or tax policy or cultural influence you thought he was solid in. Many have experienced it in the Trump era as part of the Epstein Files kerfuffle.

The government and the princes of our government- congressmen, administrators, judges, presidents, governors, attorney generals, etc- have great power, power that often seems only dubiously circumscribed by law. It is tempting to trust in them and their power. It is infuriating to have that trust repaid with failure, corruption, and incompetence, as it often seems to be, when even victories are smaller than they could be, smaller than I hoped. Those failures and betrayals, however, I have learned to take as a lesson: “Put not your trust in princes” (Ps. 146:3 ESV).

The constant underachieving and betrayal of politics can also promote an inverse reaction: disenchantment becoming anger becoming apathy. ‘It never gets better, so why should I bother?’ The optimist who sees in politics salvation becomes the pessimist who sees in politics merely a reason to complain.

Psalm 146, however, does not end in verse 3. Verse 5 brings the counterpoint to verse 3’s command: “ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” We are to hope in man, not God, even in matters of politics. God, after all, has and will prove Himself eminently worthy of that trust, to an extent we cannot perceive in this life (Rom. 8:28).

The temptation here is to take ‘trust in the Lord’ as an excuse to disregard all matters of princes. Why shouldn’t we withdraw entirely from the turmoil? Let princes and presidents flounder and fail; we have the Lord. This impulse is not right. Yes, we do have the Lord, but He is a strength in our arms, not a reason to retreat. Matthew 25:14-30 gives us our paradigm: the servant is commended for using all of the material given to him for fruitfulness. We may not bury the responsibility God has given us to seek righteous governance (Rom. 13:4).

Government and the rest of life are full of vice and failure. We can be tempted, looking at the foolishness and wickedness which has characterized American politics since before any of us were alive, from the spoils system to Henry Forrestal’s death to the Kennedy assassination to the war in Ukraine and more. We can be tempted to leave the world behind, thinking that it is the only way to avoid participating in its evils. We can be tempted, moreover, to think that because the prince has failed, all our work is worthless- which is merely another way of putting trust in princes (Ps. 146:3).

The world loves itself, but the world does not love itself as it ought. The world loves itself as an idol- and therefore hates itself. Thus we see men constantly working to their own destruction and the destruction of their own people. We are not to hate the world as it hates itself, and we are not to love the world as it loves itself, with false love. No, we are to love the world as God loves it: with hate and loathing unconquerable for all which defiles His creation, including the sins of men, but love and loyalty undefeated for all which is good in it, even the image of God in those same men. This is a crusading love, a love which would tear the wickedness away from the beloved, a love towards sanctification.

For many, this right love of God’s world includes participation in politics, in the work of government and the appointing of princes. It means calling princes to account again and again when they fail, when they sin. It means seeking righteous rules and righteous rulers. Like all love of the imperfect, it involves much heart-ache. Yet never, while we adhere to righteousness, does it include the idolatry of trusting in princes or the folly of thinking their failures an excuse for dereliction.

God bless.