Our Ruler

Reading: Judges 9-10; Psalm 49; 1 Corinthians 16 The leaders of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever attacks the Ammonites first will become ruler over all the people of Gilead.” (Judges 10:18 NLT) The Israelites had lost their sense of identity as the People of God. They had marginalized their faith in the God of Abraham and Moses and had become functional pagans. They had lost their communication linkage with God and their values had become so polluted that they were at this point only concerned with solving a problem. They felt they needed a champion to lead them in their struggle against the oppressing Ammonites, but instead of seeking God’s man for the job, they advertised the position on Craigslist! They weren’t looking for faith or character or integrity or anointing. They just wanted someone to fix their problem. They said, “Whoever can solve the problem can be king over the whole region!” This makes me think of how political campaigns are conducted in USA (and a lot of other places as well!) Whoever promises most convincingly to keep us economically prosperous and comfortable gets our votes. Whoever makes us afraid we’re under threat from real or imagined enemies, then promises to protect us gets our votes. Then as soon as we feel a financial pinch (it’s always about comfort and prosperity, you know!), we’re ready to throw them out and try another problem solver who will promise even more. Our Founding Fathers in the USA gave us a system that allows us to choose the government we want. The reality is that if we want to change the government, we have to change our “wants.” On a personal level, if I don’t stay in close fellowship with Father God every day, if I let my God-communication slip and my godly values become polluted, I’ll get to the point where I’m saying, “Just solve the problem. Just fix it.” My attitude will be, “Don’t bother me with a lot of details like, ‘Is this right? Is this God’s will? Is this consistent with what God has said previously?’ Just fix the problem!”

Prayer:

Father, This story from Judges challenges me examine my own heart and see my own tendencies in life. Help me to stay close to your heart and clear in my communication with you every day. I don’t want to slip into the “Just fix it. Just solve the problem!” mode. I purpose to “Seek diligently, listen carefully, obey completely.” May it be so. Amen.