1 Samuel 8 is a key moment in the biblical story. God’s people gather together at Ramah and voice their dissatisfaction with the present state of leadership. Their complaint and concern was valid. Samuel, their current leader (judge), was growing old. His sons were crooks. They were in the middle of a war with the Philistines (which they were losing). Even in Samuel’s younger years, he was no soldier. So the people demand that Samuel appoint them a king “Like all the other nations have.” In the end, they acknowledge the real reason they want a king: a king will fight their battles for them (1 Sam 8:20).

Up until this point the children of Israel understood that God was their king and God would fight and win their battles for them. In asking for a king, the people are rejecting God. Most importantly, God equates their demand for a king with the worship of other gods (1 Sam 8:8). In placing their trust in a human leader, the people are committing idolatry no less than when they bow down to Baal and Astarte.

We are naive to think that idolatry only takes place in spaces that we label “religious”. As I think about the church in our day – specifically the evangelical church in America – I am not concerned that we are going to bring images of gods and goddesses into our places of worship and bow down to them. I am not concerned that we are going to start attending Hindu worship services to pay homage to Krishna. But in no way does this mean we are not in danger of idolatry. I think the idolatry in which we are most tempted to partake is in the realm of politics – placing our trust in political leaders rather than in God.

Idolatry in our context is not going to look like bowing down to a golden calf. It is going to look like waving the flag of a political leader.

To be clear: it is not idolatry to vote for or support a politician. To cast a vote for one politician over another, on its own, simply says: I think A is better suited for the job than B. It is good stewardship to seek the well being of the nation in which we live (Jer 29:7). We must, of course, remember that the nation in which we live is not the nation to which we belong. We are not first and foremost citizens of America, we are citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20). America is not to whom we belong, it is where we live (and where we are exiled). Voting is one of the ways that we steward and seek the well being of this temporary “city”.

But there are some signs that indicate we have moved away from political stewardship to political idolatry.

1. When we start using the language of salvation. When we start saying things like, “this person is going to save us or this country,” or, “We need this person,” or “We are going to lose everything if we do not get this person into office,” we are placing far too much hope in a human leader. Once we begin using “salvation” language, we have moved away from political stewardship to political idolatry.
2. When we lose the ability to critique or criticize the person we vote for. All human leaders are image bearers of God and sinners. Which means they are capable of great good and great evil. When the person we vote for can do no wrong and the person we vote against can do no right, we are no longer seeing them as human. It is easy, of course, to see the faults in the candidate we do not support. But it is dangerous when we stop questioning or holding accountable the person we do support. It is a fair question to ask: is there any sin or error that this candidate can make that would disqualify them from my vote? If not, then we have likely moved away from political stewardship to political idolatry.
3. When we start viewing those who do not vote for our candidate as our enemy. As Christians, we are a people whose identity is found in Christ. We are Christians even before we are Americans, much more before we are Republicans or Democrats, Trump voters or Biden voters. It is to deeply misunderstand my identity in Christ when allegiance and fidelity to the candidate I support becomes a marker for who is with me and who is against me. It is concerning how often I have heard statements like, “I feel more in common with the atheist who votes for Trump than the Christian who votes for Biden”. When failure to be loyal to a particular candidate is seen as failure to be loyal to God, then we have moved away from political stewardship to political idolatry.

When the people of Israel ask for a king, when they put their trust in a human leader rather than in God to fight their battles, God sees no difference between that and bowing down to and worshiping another god.

This election year, we must continue to hear and heed the words at the end of 1 John: “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”