Let’s suppose we were all able to select where we were from and who our President or King would be. Let’s say we had that kind of sway … what would we do? Well, maybe we would fly around from country to country, looking for the cities or natural landscape we liked the best. We would make a short list from the environments … then we would cross check our approved places with the leaders who ruled over them. What kinds of characteristics would you look for in your leader of choice? What policies would they promote? What kind of character would they represent? After this thorough examination, we could then make a selection on where we would live and under whose leadership we would reside.
Now, the above scenario is mostly fantasy. We do not determine our nationality at birth, and it can be quite complicated to change our citizenship in this world! Acts 17:26 actually lets us know that God Himself sits sovereign over the context of our lives, saying, “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” Further, though our form of government in America allows us to participate in the process of selecting a leader, if you voted in the last Presidential election, you are merely one vote out of 140 million! We play a part, but many other forces are at play in determining our leaders … and again, God Himself sits sovereign over that process as Romans 13:1 reminds us, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
And so, our places of residence and our governing authorities are not entirely of our own choosing … and part of the challenge we face in this world is that because of sin and the consequences that have followed it, both our environment and our leaders are far from idyllic. No matter where you live, there are a unique set of problems. Oklahoma has rattlesnakes, tornados, and ice storms (among other things). We take the good with the bad! And our leaders are morally imperfect and make flawed decisions at times. You win some, you lose some. Change the city, state, or even country you live in, and you will trade one set of imperfections with another. To say it another way, both our kingdoms and our kings have their problems!
But what can God teach us through this? Romans 8:22 tells us that “all creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Our imperfect world and our flawed leaders remind us that THIS IS NOT OUR HOME. We groan like a mother in childbirth, longing for the birthday of a new age … and a new leader.
On Sunday, November 17 at Wildwood Community Church in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 worship service, we will continue our sermon series “King of Kings” by looking at Isaiah 11:1-11. This prophetic passage, written 700 years before Jesus was born, describes Jesus and what it will be like to live under His authority. This prophecy describes the King of Kings and His coming Kingdom in terms unlike anything we know. It is my prayer that these verses will raise our eyes from our kings and kingdoms (lowercase “k’s”) to Him and His promised dominion … and that we will all be filled with hope!
See you Sunday, and bring friends!