Asking for a king? The limitations of earthly rulers
The current pandemic (Corona virus) has turned the world upside down. Nothing is quite as it was. Just like that all our plans have had to change, our hopes and dreams now at a standstill or floating away on the wind; the ashy remains of what could have been. So now more than ever, we are turning to our leaders. Hoping that at least there, we will find some consistency; somewhere to put our hope. But alas, they too seem to be failing us… even when they do seem to make a right call, there seems to arise five more reasons to criticize them. Often we find ourselves going through a cycle of looking for another king, a better king… a better than king. Only to have them fail us again.
In the book of Samuel an account is recorded of the first king of the people of Israel. You would recall from previous posts, that the Israelites had been liberated from captivity and that God had presented Himself to them as their king. An offer they had boldly accepted. Since then God had been speaking to the Israelites through his priests and prophets. One such person was Samuel, a prophet who had been serving as the oracle of God at that time. However, the people looked around them and noticed that they were the only people group in the land without an earthly king. So what did they do? They went to God’s prophet and demanded one. Here’s the interesting part. When Samuel brought the people’s concerns to God, this is what he said:
“Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.’ 1 Samuel 8:7-9
So God says, you know what? Listen to them, give them what they want, but before you do that be sure to let them know what it will cost them. (vs 10)
So Samuel meets with the people and he presents them with the price of having an earthly king:
1. He will reign over you
2. He will take your sons (for war), your daughters (for labour and pleasure) and your land in service of him and his cause.
3. You will be obligated to pay dues to him
4. And then you will cry out for relief from the same king that you have chosen (and sadly, the Lord will not answer)
Presented with this, the people still insisted, why? Because they didn’t want to be different to everyone else around them, they wanted the pride of having a king of their own. And so God granted their request accepting it as their rejection of Him and acceptance of the consequences. And well you don’t need to read the rest of it to know that that is exactly what happened. Even presently we are acquainted with how the monarchy operated and operates.
Well, you may say, we have no king here in the Caribbean, we operate within an democracy. I think you and I can both agree that the same powerplays exist with all political correctness and if we look close enough, we will see the evidence of Samuel’s warnings in our modern day leadership framework.
Why does it persist? Well it will take more than a paragraph to fully answer such a question but to put it simply, I think it points to our human nature, our natural attraction to greed, power, lust, pleasure and self-satisfaction.
But what I really want to point out today is this. In understanding the kingdom and what it means to be a part of it. To acknowledge and accept God as King and His ways as our ways, means that it will bring some clarity to us as regards our response to our earthly leaders. Too many of us as believers allow ourselves to become discouraged when our political choice fails, too many of us make the mistake the disciples made, still expecting God to come in and overthrow leaders and put up our preference. And when it doesn’t go the way we expect it to, we get angry at God and each other. Too many of us struggle to keep a job because of our inability to ‘find the right fit’ with our bosses. If we understand what it means to be royalty, to be kingdom citizens, to be pilgrims, to be sojourners, we will understand the limitations of our earthly leaders, despite God’s allowance for them. So instead of complaining and demanding, faithlessly and dishonorably, we will do as our Lord commanded us.
- Give unto your earthly rulers what is due unto them (Matt 22:17-21)
- Submit to their authority (Rom 13:1-3)
- Pray for them, that you may live a peaceful life. (1 Tim 2:1-2)
Let me clarify, this does not mean that you cannot speak against injustice or stand up for what is right but let us not confuse this with disrespect or disobedience (whether subtly or overtly). The kingdom citizen understands that God is in control. As a result he or she does not call the leadership derogatory names, nor engage in acts of violence or cruelty towards them. He or she does not put their trust in earthly leaders to the point where their failures shatters their faith and trust in God. The bible says, “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:5 NLT). He or she does not engage in deceit, break the law or take advantage of freedoms. And this does not just apply to political leaders, but anyone who is in a position of authority. It’s not about how you feel about a person in authority, it’s about upholding the standards of the kingdom, it’s about living like the royals we are. Because we know we serve a king who wouldn’t stand for anything less.
EYES ON THE KING OF kings
Be a blessing,
Kelly
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Kelly is the founder of Royalty Press United. Author of the Gemstone Royals fantasy series, Twist of Faith and Crossroads. Counseling psychologist, proud Grenadian and devoted follower of Christ.
