When The Righteous Are In Authority

Have you seen the headlines this morning? No, I’m not talking about the continued deification of Michael Jackson; I joked on Facebook that I wondered when his body would be laid in state in the Capitol Rotunda. I’m talking about the unrest in Central and South America. We had a coup over the weekend in Honduras and Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is threatening to intervene. Cuba not surprisingly has condemned the coup because Fidel Castro backed deposed leftist President Manuel Zelaya. Furthermore in Argentina there seems to be a power struggle after midterm elections that could be cause for concern.

Proverbs 29:2 says:

    “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.”

Many peoples across the globe are groaning, wicked men seem to rule everywhere. In our own country there is an ongoing dispute about Barack Obama’s eligibility under Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution as to his natural born citizenship. Despite the near total news media blackout, 51.3% of Americans polled know about the dispute. As reported by World Net Daily, “nearly half the country’s adults – 49 percent – are troubled by this issue and still want him to produce his official long-form birth certificate.”

So why the current events lesson Bro Dave? As I spoke of in my Sunday school class yesterday, the Fourth of July is this Saturday; a day when we as a nation celebrate our independence from the British crown and the founding of our nation. It is a day to reflect on our freedom and to count the cost of that freedom.

The majority, and I do mean the very large majority, of Americans take this freedom for granted. They do so by not keeping up with current events and watching our elected officials in Washington D.C., the state houses, and locally. Right now our freedoms as Americans are being negated each day as Congress and the President pass laws that remove more and more liberty.

Many people do not want to face the possibility of having an ineligible president; they say the turmoil would be too great for the nation to bear. Some look to it as an opportunity for the Republican Party to regain power. However our Bible teaches us that we should seek the Lord when it comes to our elected officials. We are not to seek God’s blessings after we after choose an ungodly leader. Israel tried that trick a few times:

    “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law. Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’ Israel has rejected the good; the enemy will pursue him. They set up kings, but not by Me; they made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves—that they might be cut off.” (Hosea 8:1-4)

Our old friend Matthew Henry wrote of Israel’s foolishness outlined in this passage; it seems so fitting for America today:

    “When Israel was hard pressed, they would claim protection from God, but this would be disregarded. What use will it be to say, My God I know thee, if we cannot say, My God I love the, serve thee, and cleave to thee only?”

What use indeed.

The Lord has impressed it upon my heart to write about liberty this week and the responsibilities therein of citizens who bask in those God-given freedoms.

Pray for me; I am being lead down a path I do not seek.

I feel the Holy Spirit pressing me to the front to proclaim the truth; a truth that is seen but spoken by too few.

It is a truth that demands an audience, but so few want to hear.

It is a truth that may be inconvenient for the comfortable, but a truth nevertheless that will be heard.

It is a truth I pray that will once again reign will when the righteous are in authority.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

“If you’re receiving these devotionals for the first time and would like to receive them on a regular basis, please click here and use “Please add to Devotional List” as the subject.”

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,