Slideshow image

In what myriad ways are we affected by the choice to not trust God? How about when that initial choice turns into an ongoing habit and pattern of life? What then might that ongoing distrust of God produce as it pertains to the political realm in particular? To varying degrees, these questions probably hit us somewhat close to home and represent the exact nature of the issue that God addresses with Israel in this week’s passage.

As Pastor took us through chapter 6 last week, we saw in brutal detail that Israel has a repentance problem–they simply will not turn back toYahweh, the Lord their God. Because of this state, God indicates that His promised coming healing will not come until they are ready. and tragically their lack of readiness is a problem that runs deep. We see in chapter 7 that Israel’s lack of repentance is due, in no small part, to their lack of trust in God, which has prominently expressed itself in their view of politics. As is the case with all humans, take away trust in God as the ultimate Sovereign, and you end up with a view of and hope for government and politics to be and do things they are not able to.

What drives the people of the Northern Kingdom (Israel/Ephraim) to run through 5 kings via 4 coups in a mere 22-year period? Ultimately, they neither called upon Yahweh (6:7) nor returned to Him (6:10) and their sinful fleshly passions for their political situation to satisfy them won the day.

It can be easy to look at the severity of the political intrigue in Israel and say, “Well, I would never do something like that,” (and I hope that’s true!), but in what ways has a similar distrust of the Lord affected us in this arena? These practical diagnostic questions might help pinpoint some of those ways (I know these have for me!):

  • Have we had a difficult time praying for certain “kings [or rulers] and all who are in high positions” over us (1 Tim. 2:2)?
  • Do we live in “subject[ion] to [our] governing authorities” recognizing that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom.13:1)?
  • Do we give ourselves to the belief that if we just had the right regime change all would finally be put right or at least recover those ever-elusive “good ol’ days” (Eccl. 7:10)?

May we, together, trust God enough as the ultimate Sovereign and put government and politics in their proper place according to His good design.