WARNING PREACHY…
1 Samuel 8:7b
“It
is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
The
Children of Israel used to be governed by God though the direction of Judges
and Prophets. But they decided they
wanted to be like the other nations around them and demanded that the prophet
appoint a king to rule over them. The prophet Samuel was not happy about this but God said to him to not fret it because
it was not him that the people rejected, but rather it was God Himself.
During
this past presidential election cycle, I have heard many people claim this
person or that was God’s chosen person to lead America, I have heard the rhetoric that God specifically
loves America, because America is God’s new chosen people, and I have heard
that no matter what, whomever the person is that sits in the White House , that
God is actually the one in control.
While I am not seeking debate on any of these points, I am pointing out that God’s intention was for Himself to directly rule his people, but we
men had rejected that.
Then
I am reminded of Jesus’s words when the Pharisees came to test him about the
issue of divorce in Mark 19. They wanted
to know if divorce was legal.
Mark
19:7-8
7 “Why
then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of
divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus
replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were
hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
It seems to me that if we American’s
experience any despair or extreme comfort because of the results of the presidential
election, then we are forgetting that our current system is not exactly
as it should have been, or should be. God might have allowed our political system to be, but originally it is not as it ought to be.
And the words of Samuel that echo in
my head the most are the words that he spoke after he warned the people exactly
what would happen when a King would rule over them and they still wanted one anyway.
1 Samuel 8:18
”When
that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but
the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
Please
don’t think I am trying to force the ancient texts into being a direct
response to the current American experience, I'm not, I am simply trying to point out
that sometimes God will give us exactly what we want. And sometimes there are very real
consequences for getting what we want.
And
in the spirit of full disclosure, it is important to state that I did vote, and
no I’m not going to disclose for whom I voted.
And I trust that no matter the results of elections, that I may keep God on His throne all the days of my life, even if I am subject to other rulers and authorities.
