The despotic president/murderer of many, Saddam Hussein is long gone from
the world’s political stage, having been chased from his leadership of Iraq into
hiding, and eventually pulled from his hiding hole, tried, convicted, and
executed by hanging. He did not, as the
Psalmist cautioned leaders to do, act wisely!
He had no fear of God. He viewed
himself as being in charge…and, for a brief nine years, his murderous regime seemed
to be so; the collapse in 2003 once again reminded us all that every created
thing is subject to God’s will. No
matter how high the Top of Your Game may be, God has set the Time of Your
Game-Over, and there is nothing to top that!
The Psalmist set down for us all the means for a leader to be honorable
and end well – to serve the Lord with reverent fear, and
rejoice with trembling. Whether you are president of the
United States, or the elected dog catcher in the smallest of towns, there is
always one to whom you report (besides the electorate or whatever checks and
balances are in place), and that is He Who created us, and decides if we live
or die. In an age where personal sovereignty
is worshipped, it would be prudent to remember God’s sovereignty is above all.
In a few years those under 20 will hardly recognize the name of Saddam
Hussein, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or any of the other newsmakers of the current time. That is regrettable, as forgetting the
mistakes of the past are surety of repeating them in the future.
For You Today
Rather than gloat,
or wail (over political outcomes, depending on whether or not you voted for
those who fail or succeed), it is a better practice to reflect on our part in
this process. Just as it is incumbent on leaders to serve with reverent
fear of God, it is the same reverent fear we who put others in office must serve.
We are tempted to opt-out of
responsibility quickly in one of many ways:
·
I’m just one person; what could I
have done
·
I voted for the other guy
·
His problem – I’ve got enough to
worry about
Now, those may all
be true to some degree, but one thing remains for the Christian
believer: Did I pray? Did I honestly, fervently, and consistently
lift up the leaders who make governing choices in my name?[1]
There
are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some
of these:
Advice for the Mighty and Now Then, You Kings, Act Wisely!
[1] Images: Title Image from Video: What if Sadaam Hussein Was Never Captured (YouTube) Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[1] From: Advice for the Mighty, Rocky Road Post from January 5, 2015
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