The only time we should be consumed with both Government and God should be at the same time when as the scriptures promise in Isaiah 9:6, the "Prince of Peace" will not only rule the Kingdom but our hearts as well. Until then, let's keep government small and God big.
Dennis Prager reasons “The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.” 1 I am sure many more have said and believed likewise, but he recently sparked my thoughts that as a government grows in size and scope, certain things shrink as a result. Goodness, particularly defined as people acting charitably to each other dwindles as the government tries to federalize communal generosity. And personal character diminishes while liberties becomes more restricted. In short, more government equates to more laws which stifles personal and corporate liberty, thus, “The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.”
To add my thoughts onto this sentiment above in which might be a bit simplistic, but compellingly true, I would add - The bigger the government the smaller the God. I should note that it is not God Himself that becomes smaller but the place of God in people’s lives - that is, faith in God.
We see this true in ancient history. The Hebrew people under a Theocracy were led by chosen leaders and prophets. In wanting to be like the other nations, I Samuel chapter eight accounts the Jewish people asking their leader Samuel to give them a King. Both Samuel and God were discouraged by this request and warned of the outcome. The end result in granting the people’s desire of a monarchy was straightforward. Liberties, personal finances, and land would all be given over to the King. Many people would become his slaves as well. As the Jewish people embarked into a monarchy, God’s place in officially governing His people would begin the long process of fading. Ever so slightly, one’s faith for livelihood was not erased, but shifted from an invisible and perfect God to a visible and fallible King.
Since then it seems the separation between God and people via governments has only increased as time progresses and consequently, as governments become larger. And as the 18th century has freshly shown, Atheism is the default faith of oversized and unaccountable governments, and wickedness its work. Even a cursory understanding of the age of social catastrophe would confirm the bigger the government, the smaller the god. Socialist and Communist governments are by nature large and by nature atheistic. The Communist dictatorships of China and Russia unabashedly wiped out all religions in its pursuit of imperialistic domination. When the founder of Communism believed that “Religion is the opium of the people” it should be no wonder why places of worship were systematically removed. Even in the National Socialist (Nazis) regime of Hitler, which was against Communism, sparks of true Christianity were equally stamped out. In both Nazism and Communism, there was no room for religion when the government tried to take its place. Thus the bigger the government the smaller the god.
Inversely, a small government should equate to a big God. This is seen no clearer than the founding of America. Its young founders made up of Deists and Christians were separating from a monarchial government belonging to the most powerful country in the world. With life and death on the line, the dire circumstances demanded that they placed much faith in God both personally and politically. Is it a coincidence that the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Amendments which all proclaim the intrinsic value of all people worthy of certain unalienable rights - life, liberty, property and the ability to pursue happiness, were the same founders who strove to make and maintain a small government with checks and balances in place so that the budding nation of the United States would not in time become like the other countries whose leaders naturally oppress? They believed, the smaller government the better, and agreed with what Thomas Paine famously wrote, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” 2
The acknowledgment of a divine God and the awareness of their human proclivity towards sin played no small part in guiding the United States Constitutional Republic. Their mistrust of powerful men and trust in God’s providence is unquestionable. Washington said “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have been advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of his providential agency.” 3
The English poet, Percy Shelley wrote that “Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.” 4 If then government is an evil, albeit a necessary one, then it would be wise to keep it as small as possible. Less intrusive governments allow for more freedoms. And more freedoms require more responsibilities from its citizens. That is why Thomas Jefferson said that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” 5 and why he believed that the government is best when it governs least.
Until the Prince of Peace reigns with the government upon His shoulders, 6 much ailments of humanity could be lessened if we seek to make mortal governments small and God big.
1. Dennis Prager video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr638pCfPxs
2. Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1
3. George Washington, First Inaugural Address, Thursday, April 30, 1789
4. Percy Bysshe Shelley ,"Percy Bysshe Shelley Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2018. 17 December 2018. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/percy_bysshe_shelley_155919
5. John Adams, to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, October 11, 1798
6. Isaiah 9:6