The House Judiciary Committee appears likely to adopt two articles of impeachment today and send them to the full House of Representatives, where they may be voted upon as early as next week. If the House approves the articles by a simple majority (which seems very likely, given its Democratic majority), they are then sent to the Senate for a trial.

For the Senate to convict the president and remove him from office requires a two-thirds supermajority vote of those present. Given the Republican majority in the Senate, this seems very unlikely.

Meanwhile, a new poll reports that 50 percent of Americans say President Trump should not be impeached and removed from office, while 45 percent think he should be.

Ours is not the only government in turmoil.

British citizens have begun voting today in parliamentary elections that are likely to decide whether the world’s fifth-largest economy leaves the European Union next month or moves toward another EU referendum. An exit poll will be published when polls close at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. in Dallas) and may indicate the winner.

The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a vote yesterday to dissolve itself and hold an election on March 2, 2020. This sends Israelis to ballot boxes for the third time after both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz failed in their attempts to form a governing coalition.

Watching the Baylor/OU game

Last weekend, I watched on television as Baylor played Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game. I had to leave the game for a while, so I recorded it. Oklahoma was leading 10–0 at the time and the game looked like it was going to become a blowout.

When I returned, I checked the score online to see if I wanted to keep watching. I learned that Baylor was now leading 13–10 at halftime. I then watched the rest of the half, but I already knew its outcome.

You and I are playing a game whose score has already been decided. As my college professor noted, Christians can summarize the Book of Revelation in two words: “We win.” But the plays that make up that final score are nonetheless vital.

And the fact that God knows the future does not mean that he necessarily determines it.

The Lord sees tomorrow more clearly than we see today (Isaiah 46:10). He can see on Thursday what you will have for dinner on Friday. But watching and determining are not always the same thing. If I could watch you read this Daily Article, that fact would not mean that I forced you to read it.

God’s sovereignty does not negate our freedom. Scripture repeatedly calls us to exercise our free will in ways that honor the Lord and obey his will (cf. Matthew 7:21; John 14:21; 2 Timothy 2:15).

Here’s what God’s sovereignty does mean: his ultimate purpose will always be fulfilled. Lawmakers in Washington can debate the future of the president and voters in Great Britain and Israel can elect a prime minister, but no one can depose the King of the universe.

“In all your ways acknowledge him”

In these days of political turmoil, it may be instructive to remember an earlier leadership transition. 1 Chronicles 10 records the death of King Saul by his own hand after his forces were defeated by the Philistines (v. 4).

But the Chronicler made certain we understood the larger forces at work: “Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse” (vv. 13–14).

Saul chose to end his life, but that choice was consistent with God’s sovereign judgment on Saul’s choice to trust a medium rather than God’s sovereign will. What “mediums” do we trust today?

The familiar invitation of Proverbs 3 still stands: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (vv. 5–6, my italics). Our society understands trusting God with some of your heart in some of your ways, especially those that are private and “religious.” But those who seek the will of God and trust the sovereignty of God in all their ways are unique in our secular culture.

And they are uniquely blessed and used by their sovereign Lord.

“There is only one relationship that matters”

I have been reading Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, every morning for three decades. Across all those years, one paragraph especially stands out for me.

In the November 30 reading, Chambers states: “There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfil His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purpose, and yours may be that life.”

Will God “fulfill His purpose through your life” today?

Denison Forum

The USS Arizona has seen its last burial.

Lauren Bruner was the second-to-last man to escape the ship during the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor. He was one of only 334 crew members to survive the December 7, 1941 attack that killed 1,177 of his fellow sailors.

When the ship exploded, Bruner swam across seventy feet of burning water to reach the repair ship USS Vestal. He suffered burns on nearly 80 percent of his body and was wounded by Japanese gunfire. He recovered from his injuries and returned to sea, serving aboard the destroyer USS Coghlan in eight more battles against the Japanese. He died this year on September 10, just months before his ninety-ninth birthday.

More than nine hundred sailors are entombed within the sunken ship. The remains of forty-three USS Arizona survivors have been interred there over the years as well. Per his request, an urn containing Bruner’s ashes was placed by divers inside the ship Saturday, the seventy-eighth anniversary of the attack.

Lauren Bruner will be the final person to be interred on the USS Arizona. The last three living survivors plan to be laid to rest with their families.

My father’s war story

Does reading about Lauren Bruner fill you with gratitude for his courage? It does for me, especially because what happened at Pearl Harbor so directly changed what would become my life.

My father grew up in a small town in Kansas with plans to become a doctor. He had never seen Japan prior to the “date that will live in infamy.” I doubt he had heard of Pearl Harbor before it was attacked.

But when President Roosevelt declared war on Japan (see his moving speech here), my father immediately enlisted in the Army and fought the Japanese in the South Pacific. Most of the men with whom he served died there. He witnessed atrocities that would mark him for the rest of his life. His entire trajectory was changed by his military service.

Sixteen million other Americans joined my father in serving our nation during World War II. Of their number, 405,399 were killed in action and 671,278 were wounded. No one who served our nation would ever be the same. We owe them a debt of gratitude we can never repay.

“Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border”

I was reading through 1 Chronicles and came upon the passage made famous by Bruce Wilkinson’s bestseller, The Prayer of Jabez: “Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!’ And God granted what he asked” (1 Chronicles 4:10).

For God to “enlarge” his “border” meant to increase his territory and influence. Jabez wanted his life to count as fully as possible. But he knew that this was impossible unless the “hand” of God was “with” him to lead, empower, and protect.

Such a prayer may seem audacious, but “God granted what he asked.” It seems that the Lord wants us to seek to be all we can be for his glory and the good of others:

• We are to “work heartily” in all we do (Colossians 3:23). Are you doing so?
• God wants us to “approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10). Are you ready for that day?
• Our Father empowers what he expects: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). Are you seeking such empowerment?

The temptation of being good

As I read about Lauren Bruner this weekend and thought about my father’s sacrifice, I was inspired to make Jabez’s prayer my own. If millions of men and women could give their best to serve our nation, I can give my best to serve my Lord.

Here’s the problem: it is tempting to settle for less than our best when our good seems better than others. If we have not yielded to cultural pressure on abortion, homosexual relations, euthanasia, etc., we can conclude that we are more moral than those who have. But heterosexual sexual sin is sin as well. God cares for the poor as well as the unborn. He wants the best medical care for the indigent as well as the terminally ill.

And he wants us to champion all that he champions. I have noticed that it is easier to preach against sins I am not tempted to commit personally.

The secularity of Christmas

It is interesting that Jesus chose to be born in a “secular” stable rather than a religious shrine. He chose for his first worshipers field hands who were ritually unclean and unwelcome at the Temple or synagogue. The first religious leaders who met him were pagans from what we call Iran today.

Jesus chose to make his home in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Matthew 4:15). Neither he nor any of his apostles had rabbinic training. None would be “ordained” as we know the term today.

In other words, God intends his kingdom to extend to every corner of the culture, not just the parts we call “spiritual.” Here we discover a subtle but deadly temptation of the enemy: if he cannot lead us to reject all spirituality, he will tempt us to confine it to a day, a morning habit, a select group.

And to call ourselves good because we are better than some.

How to be “more than conquerors”

Abraham Kuyper: “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!’”

The more we are submitted to Jesus, the more we can be used by him. The more our lives count for what counts most. The more we experience his abundant life (John 10:10) and are “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

How fully will you surrender to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ today?

Denison Forum