Elections are a time of choosing candidates representing one’s personal beliefs regarding the economy, health, faith, foreign and domestic affairs, and various other issues. Voters also realize the candidates they vote for are not always the best fit but rather the better of the worse.
For this reason, many Christians in America avoid voting or voicing who they believe to be the “better” candidate. The reality is there is no better of the two. Every candidate and every politician is tainted with ego, pride, and sin - just like every one of us.
When God’s people asked for a king in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 8, they went to Samuel. They wanted a king to rule over them just like other nations around them. Israel envied the splendor of nations that endued the aura of strength and power.
Samuel consulted with God and brought forward the request of the people, and the Israelites asked, “give us a king.”
God knew the evil in the hearts of the people and granted them their request, a king they want, a king they will have.
“Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 1 Samuel 8:7-9
Israel rejected God as king, and the evidence was found in their actions - they served other gods.
With Israel’s idol worship, they were entangled with religion and lost their relationship with God. God's stern warning is a consequence of their lack of respect and honor for Him. God loved Israel and never left them, but His people were willing to prostitute themselves to an unknown king.
Samuel lays out the warning from God to the nation of Israel. To follow through with having a king will only bring a loss of freedom, a relinquishment of property, enslaved people to a king's policies, and the surrendering of their children.
“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 1 Samuel 8:11-18
When America rejects God as King, as Israel did, they will ask for a king!
Secularism in America has kicked God out of our government, political policies, schools, and private and public institutions. Just like Israel, America has rejected God, and the proof is in their action.
Leaders of our nation and states have created policies to induce death upon the unborn, and intellectuals have assembled a curriculum polluting our children’s education system. Biology and science were once a study in search of truth, but are now a matter of opinion.
A nation founded on “we the people” is now finding its footing on a government rebuilding a brand that propagates the replacement of “we” with me, myself, and I.
The conclusion of a nation divided from God is a nation at the mercy of God. As in the days of Noah and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah; God in His righteousness is holy and just to judge the nation with a destructive consequence.
God, in His great love, has blessed America beyond measure. I don’t write this with arrogance but with sadness. America's blessings have turned into a curse. Our liberties and freedoms of religion and speech have been used, not to glorify God, but to draw attention to self.
We are a nation that sends Christian missionaries out to minister to the world, but we are a nation that needs to be ministered to.
America has rejected God and given its children up to be offered to idols. The unborn are offered by the millions - and the people don’t flinch. America has abandoned its children, physically present but emotionally and morally absent. Why?
Because we have rejected God as King, and instead, have crowned me, myself, and I as king.
It's not too late if we turn to Him with all our hearts.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
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