March 11 - The Man Who Would Be King

 Read today’s texts first: Deuteronomy 16-18; Psalm 38; Galatians 2

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Two avoid the pitfalls of power: study God’s Word
every day and remember He is God & you are not.

The above title I borrowed from a novella written by Rudyard Kipling. It features two British adventurers who, through superior knowledge and firepower, become revered as gods by the people of Kafiristan. They rule there as kings until one of them is bitten by his kafir wife and bleeds. Because gods aren’t supposed to bleed, they suffer rejection by the kafirs and an unpleasant end to their lives. The title and the plot are fitting to what will happen in Israel.

The Israelites, as God’s chosen people, were supposed to be ruled by God (1 Samuel 8:6,7). But God, who sees man’s choices before they’re made, knows that someday they will want to have a human king, just like the other nations. He warns them well in advance what can happen when you give a man that kind of god-like power. The three areas of temptation come into play: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). They will tend to gather women (lust of the flesh), wealth (lust of the eyes), and weapons (eg. horses=power=pride of life) (Deuteronomy 17:14-17).

The same thing can happen today with God’s chosen people, His church. Some Christians don’t want to be directly accountable to God so they set up their pastor to rule as their priest and king. That way, instead of feeling personally responsible, they can sit back, complain when things don’t go well, and get rid of their pastor when they discover he or she was human after all!

But God gives two simple rules for leaders to avoid the pitfalls of power: study God’s Word every day so you remember that He is God and you are not, and never consider yourself better than those you lead (17:18-20). “Lord, I have learned, sometimes the hard way, that You are my God and King; any influence I have comes only through submission to You!”