1 Kings 20:23-22:9
2 Chronicles 18:1-8
King Ahab was the most evil of the kings of Israel, a man who believed
that God existed, and who even consulted Him from time to time, but who refused
to listen to Him or obey Him. Thus, the Lord sent constant reminders to Ahab of
His sovereignty, His purposes, and His expectations, and He kept Ahab
accountable for his sins.
The Lord withheld rain in Israel for three years to demonstrate His
disapproval of Ahab’s worship of Baal. He embarrassed and, then, destroyed the
prophets of Baal at an epic showdown at Mt. Carmel. He expressed His disgust to
Ahab for letting Ben-Hadad, the enemy king of Aram live after he twice attacked
Israel (1
Kings 20:35-43). Finally, the Lord pronounced death for Ahab, Jezebel, and their
entire family for the murder of Naboth and for stealing his vineyard (21:20-24).
What is clear here is that God is sovereign over kings and
queens. Their
authority to rule comes from God and, therefore, they are ac- countable to Him
for how they use His authority (Romans 13:1). Since their authority is delegated
(given to them), then it is limited. They are not free to do whatever they want, but,
instead, they must answer to God for their actions, like the rest of us.
In God’s sovereignty, He created all people in His image; therefore, all people are equal
and valuable. Because we are image bearers of God, then our
life, liberty, and property are valuable and must be respected and protected. The institution
designed by God to protect these inherent rights is civil government.
Civil government is a legitimate, God-ordained instrument with
prescribed purposes, the ordering and preservation of society. In the Apostle Paul’s words, it
exists “to reward those who do what is right and to punish those who do what is
wrong” (13:3). But here’s the
catch — who gets to decide what is right and what is wrong? God does. Since He is the
Creator, the Sovereign, and the origin of all authority, He gets
to decide what is moral and what is immoral, not man, not civil government.
Therefore, good government begins with God, and to be legitimate in its authority, it must
enact and enforce laws that compliment rather than contradict God’s laws. In other words, there
are boundaries that even those in civil government must not cross. They exist to protect
our rights, not to prohibit them. If they fail to protect our lives, liberty, or
property, as in the case of Ahab, then civil leaders have negated their
authority and must be dealt with.
Daily Reflection
As an American, you have the privilege of living in a country that was
founded on these biblical principles. Your forefathers laid them as cornerstones
in the Declaration
of Independence of 1776. They wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government...”
America is exceptional among the nations. Its
exceptionalism is a result of its founding principles, principles of God, of
His Word, of Christianity. Thus, America was founded as a nation under God. However, as it
was with Ahab, if we abandon the Lord and His principles, we will forfeit His
blessings and incur His wrath.
BiAY.org |Day 163 — 202 Days to Go
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