"Not MY leader!"

I’m sure that you have noticed the news lately. And if you have, you know that the inauguration of the new President of the United States of America will take place next Friday. Though he will be the President of this entire country, there are many people who are saying, “Not My President!”

If you look through the books of 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, we see many leaders mentioned. Most were ones that you and I would definitely say, “Not MY Leader!” They chose to do what was right in their own eyes, rather than what was right in the eyes of God. And when they did, His anger was aroused. You see this pattern over and over.

There were not many bright spots at all in the kingships of Judah and Israel. Their leaders’ hearts were not fully devoted to the Lord their God. To us, it’s really hard to fathom why they wouldn’t follow God because they had seen Him work in mighty ways. They saw His presence in the Temple for crying out loud! But still, by and large, they didn’t follow God. The nation as a whole either by choice or complacency agreed with their leaders and their decisions. And they paid the consequences.

God asks us to respect those who are in authority over us. But He also says to stand up for the truth. I don’t mean the way the world defines “truth,” but the way God does. The other day I was reading a humorous, but thought-provoking article from the Christian satire website the Babylon Bee. It talked about a progressive Christian who constantly refreshed her Bible apps in order to see if God finally had “gotten His act together” regarding His views on sexuality since He was “on the wrong side of history.” (It’s worth a read, here.) It’s funny to us and seems absurd, but this is what we do all of the time. We change the “truth” to be what is right in our own eyes. Our hearts are not fully devoted to God.

This week as you read through the characters in Chapter 14 of The Story, ask God to show you what you can learn from these leaders and for you to understand how to follow God as your Leader no matter what.

​Ivan