Donald Trump is yet another “Bad Boy” whom God has chosen to do some of His best, most important work.
God chose Abraham, a liar and a man who acquiesced to Sarah’s insistence that he sleep with Hagar, a servant, to have a child past their fecundity.
God chose Moses, a murderer, to deliver an entire People from slavery.
Image created using AI.
God chose David, a deeply flawed rogue who saw Bathsheba, had her soldier husband killed, and then slept with her. They had children, and God took one because of David’s sin.
God chose Samson, Jacob, and Peter, all of whom were deeply flawed liars and unpleasant characters who went on to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God. They did these things not because they were good men but because they were deeply flawed men whom God chose for a single purpose in the biblical timeline of history, whether for the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt or the building of a People whose numbers would flood the earth forever.
These deeply flawed men teach us that God often chooses the bad boys, the rascals, and the criminals to do His greatest work on earth, all to further the Kingdom of God. Go figure. We can’t.
The lessons should be obvious: God wants us to know that He chooses heroes not because of their goodness but because of their sameness to the rest of us who are sinners and flawed people. Trump is one of the Bad Boys.
If these biblical heroes were perfect, we could not identify with them. But they are imperfect, so that we can, and that is where Donald Trump comes in. I believe most wholeheartedly that God chose Trump for this time to lead the people out of bondage, whether to their enemies or to their internal shortcomings. He chose Trump because of what we see as his flaws.
Trump seems to have a supernatural energy, wisdom, and intellect. While he is certainly not perfect, he is the man getting things done around the world like no one else before him in America, maybe in the world. He knows from whence comes his strength, and yet he still is imperfect. His ego and his narcissistic streak have become part of the biblical lineage of egocentric narcissists whom God chose to do great things. Viewed from this angle, biblical history is still being worked out by Donald Trump, for this time in our lives.
Trump should be viewed through the lens of God’s consistency; God chooses the broken, the flawed, the flamboyant, the egocentric, the sinner to do His biggest jobs. Trump is the latest in that line of God’s chosen ones. God has given Trump a job to do despite his flaws.
The biggest lesson we can learn here is not simply that Trump is among the chosen ones, but that we are equally sinful, perhaps in different ways, but just as broken. And yet, God has chosen each of us to do a job in His service.
Trump just happens to be the most visible right now. May the Lord continue to protect and guide him as God works His will through Donald J. Trump.