The results of the 2020 presidential election nearly gutted me.

My initial reaction was great sorrow. But I soon moved into other emotions.

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Dismay.

Betrayal.

Anger.

I felt sure the election results were illegitimate and would be overturned in the next couple of months.

Who is praying on the wall?

As the months dragged on, I began to realize there was not going to be a Deus ex machina.

No angel from heaven to install a different administration.

No military intervention.

No relief from an administration that immediately began imposing its agenda through executive orders, staffing key agencies with radical leadership.

I and most IFA intercessors had labored long and hard in prayer for the 2020 election. I repented, prayed, decreed, and declared. Like many others, I expected a tsunami-like sweep of conservatives into office.

So the actual election results were not as I expected. They comprised a bitter disappointment — one that drove a wedge between me and the Lord.

I had expected something different — better — from Him.

Didn’t He want to stop the evil?

Didn’t He hear the remnant?

Wasn’t it true that His people humbled themselves, prayed, sought Him, and turned from their wicked ways?

What had happened?

It seems clear in the years since 2020, the Lord used this time to expose evil and to enable some perpetrators to get snared in their own plots.

While that can help explain the national picture, it didn’t do much to alleviate the initial bitterness I felt toward the Lord and toward those who had aligned with evil, casting their vote for abortionists.

I was not alone in these feelings.

I suspect I am not the only one who allowed emotions to affect his/her relationship with the Lord.

Because I was disappointed.

Because my expectations were not met.

Because I couldn’t see a way for the Lord to be glorified in the circumstances.

My situation was akin to that of the disappointed exiles thousands of years ago in Jerusalem. They had been deported to Babylon when that superpower invaded, destroying the city and the gorgeous temple King Solomon had built.

When the Persians overran the Babylonians, the new rulers returned the exiles to their land with money and a mandate to rebuild the temple.

The exiles made a valiant start, establishing an altar so daily sacrifices and worship could resume, but they soon ran into local opposition.

The locals were a mix of people from other nations that the Babylonians had settled there. The group intermingled with some Jewish settlers who had remained in the land and ultimately became the Samaritans.

In addition to facing hostile inhabitants, the exiles also were distracted by the difficulty of making a go of things in Judea. So they abandoned the temple building project for 15 years or so.

But the Lord wanted that temple built.

He sent the prophet Haggai to tell the people so.

When the foundation was laid earlier that year, the priests played their trumpets and the Levites their cymbals, and they sang praise songs, and the people shouted with joy.

Except the older folks.

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off (Ezra 3:12-13).

Solomon’s temple had been spectacular. Covered and even dripping with gold, it was shiny and rich and luxurious.

The exiles’ budget would not extend to this kind of splendor. On top of that, this temple was going to be half the height of Solomon’s, according to the ancient historian Josephus.

Those who remembered the first temple and expected better were disappointed.

The Lord acknowledged this, saying, “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?” (Haggai 2:3).

But the Lord exhorted the exiles to be strong and “’and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’ (Haggai 2:4b-5).”

Success did not depend upon their evaluation.

Success did not depend upon their resources.

Success depended upon the Lord’s Presence among them.

The question for the exiles was not of resources but of faith.

If they doubted the Lord’s concern for them as individuals or as a people, they simply needed to remember the covenant promises.

The Lord made another promise about the new temple.

“‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:9).

But the fulfillment of the promise would not come as the people expected.

This would be the temple in which the baby Jesus would be dedicated.

This would be the temple in which the young Jesus would be found teaching the scribes and Pharisees.

And this would be the temple where those with eyes to see and ears to hear will find the Prince of Peace when He comes to them “lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

The exiles’ expectations of a temple as grand as Solomon’s led them to disappointment.

They could not have envisioned the glory of Jesus Christ and how He would redeem the people of all the earth.

Their disappointment in the new temple was real, but it was unwarranted in light of what the Lord was going to do and still will do through the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My disappointment in 2020 was real.

I could not and still cannot envision how the Lord will heal America.

I hope and pray He will lead the people to vote for a more righteous government in this election.

But whether that happens, He is still with us.

So let’s get on with the work!

Lord, we know You love and are with us and America. Help us to set aside our expectations, do the work of the intercessor, and see what You will do — through the eyes of faith. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Share your praise for the Lord’s Presence below.

New York City–based Joyce Swingle is an intercessor and a contributing writer for IFA. With her husband, Rich, also a contributing writer for IFA, Joyce shares the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world through theater, speaking, writing, and film. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Joyce worked for about 20 major magazines and now works in pastoral ministry and Christian counseling. www.Richdrama.com. Photo Credit: Back Phrom on Unsplash.