chess online
| From | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
 How do we pray for a hostile king (ruler)?This article documents that our current president is the most Biblically-hostile ever. www.wallbuilders.com Whether this assessment is justified or not, is not in question on this thread. The Question is: If we see hostility to God and His ways in the words and actions of any ruler, either blatant or subtle, how are we to pray for such a ruler in obedience to the instruction of I Timothy 2:1-8? Certainly, we are to pray for salvation for the king--and for all men. But, since rulers are ordained to their office by God, are we only to pray for the ruler's salvation? Is he there only to have us pray for His salvation. How do we pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 5:10) when the man the Lord appointed seems to be at cross-purposes with God's intentions? Do we have Scriptural teaching to inform our prayers for such a ruler? What are they? |
||
|
A very good point is made, concerning the success of a leader or leaders who are "cross-purposes with God's intentions". If we are to pray for such success, then we would be praying for that which is not within the will of God. God is good and his intentions for His people are good. I think it is note worthy to understand what God allows and what He permits are two different things. For example, ambulances may drive in excess of the speed limit in order to accomplish the mission they are sent out to do. This does not mean, the law allows the speeding violation, it does however permit it. At first glance it would seem to be one in the same, not true. Every infraction under the law has a suitable punishment just as any sin under the Law has the suitable punishment. When God allows something, the word connotes that He is now stating that which was not "good" is "good" By allowing "bad" things to happen to "good" people the evil in the world which can be leaders are acting with His authority to perpetrate evil which is not the case at all. When God permits such actions by evil men, he is in by no way condoning nor "allowing" it but rather He endures for a season the evil, but rest assured there is a reckoning at some point whereby the evil is justly dealt. The example I use which best illustrates this thought is the administration of Commercial Law. I was once a Port of Entry Officer, so many times I would write "Permits" for vehicles which were oversize or overweight. Permits to haul such loads were given by Port of Entry Officers, however we acted within the confines of the Law. In other words, it is illegal to haul a load which is oversize or overweight. Those companies who do are subject to punishment by prescribed the Law. Acting within the authority of the Law, the P.O.E Officer could write a Permit for the movement of a load which was oversize or overweight. This didn't mean the movement was legal only that it was permissible. The movement was confined to the parameters established within the Permit. When God permits sin or evil deeds by leaders in this case, He does not allow the sin but as I stated endures it for a season. It is endured under His limits and only to the limits which He permits. Just as the oversize/overweight limit is endured by the State, it is confined to limits which are established. Hopefully I haven't confused folks with this explanation or viewpoint. Blessings, Len |
||
|
Cross purposes with God's Intentions? The question is, ultimately, why would God appoint a man as a magistrate who requires Him (and us) to endure for a season an apparently unmitigated evil? When I start a discussion along this line, the question always becomes personal for me. Why did God create me--and appoint me to the entirety of my earthly life when I so often cause Him to "endure [my sin] for a season"? The sin is certainly at cross-purposes with God's intentions. Why does He permit it? The answers to this question are unique to each individual believer in his unique relationship with the Lord of all creation. Yeshua's instruction to pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" came immediately following His instruction to acknowledge our eternal and mysterious relationship with our Holy Creator, the Father of all that is (Ephesians 3:14). This is not an accident. God's will will be done whether we pray for it or not. Still, we are instructed to pray for it. It is to be our very first supplication! It comes before our supplications for His providence ("our daily bread"), our supplications for His salvation ("forgive us our debts"), our supplications for guidance ("lead us not into temptation"), and our supplications for spiritual deliverance from evil ("deliver us from the evil one"), for example. Our prayers for deliverance seem particularly ironic in the context of our discussion. Here the Lord is, on the one hand, placing His people under the authority of a magistrate who is hostile to His revealed will, and whom we are instructed to submit, and on the other hand, instructing His people to pray for deliverance from the evil one!!!! From the human perspective, it would seem that God is at cross-purposes with Himself!!!!! The idea that God might be at cross-purposes with Himself is repulsive. He is wise and all-knowing. He is all-powerful. He is everywhere present at all times. Even in the worst circumstances known or imagined, He is present and active with wisdom and power. He is loving and good. His will cannot be thwarted. The notion that God might be at cross-purposes with Himself is intolerable. Since, we cannot entertain the possibility that the Lord is double-minded and unstable in anything He does (we may be, but He is not) there must be a rational explanation for the appearance of instability that are inherent in His instructions to us for our prayers. He is, was, and always will be a rock, a sure and always dependable foundation (Psalm 139:1-12, for example). He exhorts us to call upon Him for wisdom (James 1:2-8). A huge portion, perhaps as much as 90% of Scripture, is the revelation of God's heart, will, and mind with regard to kings and cultures. One would presume that He has provided for us a great deal of instruction in His Word specifically regarding His purposes in appointing a man hostile to Him to high earthly office. Would it not be prudent to pray that His purposes, as revealed in Scripture, be fulfilled in this appointment? OK, then I ask the readers of this thread, what instruction have you received from His Word? As we discuss what we have discovered together, we will also discover great and unsearchable things we do not know (Jeremiah 33:3). Some of those great and unsearchable things might help us with the mind-baffling irony of God's apparent conflict with Himself--permitting evil He could prevent, yet exhorting us to seek His delivery from the evil He Himself permits. |
||
|
The question is, ultimately, why would God appoint a man as a magistrate who requires Him (and us) to endure for a season an apparently unmitigated evil? --End of quote-- It is said in scripture that he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Mat5:45). Many times the Lord simply gives us what we ask. 1 Sam 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. While it is was wise for the elders of Israel to reject Samuel’s sons as leaders (vs 3 the sons of Samuel were not walking in Samuel's ways), it was wrong for them to say, “Now make for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” The very fact the Lord appoints the evil man as a magistrate comes from our rejection of the Lord as our King. In this instance, the King given to Israel stemmed from not trusting in the Lord. Our Nation has strayed from the godly principals established at the foundation of the country. We have in essence rejected God, hence the evil leaders such as we are now experiencing come from our own rejection of God. If we as a people had voted for and insisted upon godly men to hold the reigns of power, then much of the misfortune we experience now would not be so. As Christians we have abrogated our responsibility in the public sector and allowed a secular society to seize the reins of power within our institutions which were to protect us from such calamity. As those reins of power steer the country off course, we as a people do not seem to understand the significant of elections and what it means. We are often swayed by a liberal media intent upon disposing of our values and traditions which we hold dear to our heart. They support a cradle to the grave mentality but find it difficult to make it to the cradle. Blessings, Len |
Log in 
