The Lord's Anointed

 God is the Ruler of the universe. He reigns over the affairs of this earth in His own way. Sometimes, He intervenes by working miracles to change the course of history, like He did when He led His people out of Egypt. However, most of the time God has His hand on what is happening by choosing the leaders. We see that in the Bible when God set apart the priests, the prophets, and the kings. They were called the "Lord's anointed." God ordained them, and they were under His control, if they needed to be removed from their official capacity. God removed Aaron's sons when they offered "strange fire" on the altar. He killed them. He removed Elijah from the scene by sending a fiery chariot to take him to heaven. Then, Elisha took his place. The same was true for certain kings. David was aware of God's sovereignty in this area. That is why he would not kill King Saul, even though Saul was doing everything he could to kill David. (I Samuel 26:9) That is why when Abishai wanted to kill Saul, David said, "Don't destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent?" We would do well to understand what David meant even today.

When God calls out a leader, He does it for a reason. It is not necessary for us to know why He appointed them. It is our place to respect them and to pray for them. Yes, we can disagree with them, but we should not take it upon ourselves to harm them. That is a lack of faith. It is taking things into our own hands when we should allow God to engineer the circumstances. Read Romans 13:1-7, and see how this pertains to the rulers in our countries. It is clear that God puts them in place or allows them to come to power for His purposes. We are to respect God's choice. Also, we are to pray for them. ( I Timothy 2:1-3) Perhaps, we need to confess our sins and repent, so God can send a revival and change our country. That is up to us as God's people. (II Chronicles 7:14) In any case, we are not to take things into our own hands and try to do God's will in our own ways. That never works. However, trusting the Lord and following His commands always brings about the best results.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read I Samuel 28-30.