An editorial in the prestigious Wall Street Journal said: ‘People want to be lightly governed by strong governments.’ I suppose that’s what most of us have wanted since childhood. We wanted our dad to be big and strong and able to do anything. But we also wanted him to be gentle when he dealt with us. We wanted to have a policeman around, tough enough to handle the bullies, but also help us find our parents when we got lost. There’s an innate yearning in all of us for that rare combination of strength and gentleness. When evil people rise up, we want a strong government to slap them down. Yet we never want that clout turned on us.
It’s good to know that that’s how God deals with us. ‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,’ the Bible says. ‘For his compassions never fail. They are new every morning…’