“An Unemployed King?”

“An Unemployed King?”

As a high school junior I took World History. It wasn’t my favorite course so a few eyebrows were raised when some of my friends found out I’d chosen history as my college major. I remember little about the class but one thing stands out. As we studied the French Revolution we learned that King Louis XVI was deposed which brought this comment from our teacher: “It gets dangerous with an unemployed king running around.” And the anarchy of that period, part of which is known as “The Reign of Terror”, shows the truth of his statement.

Early on in my blogging I posted an article called “Firing God”. While we certainly can’t fire Him as King of His creation (“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth….”—Acts 17:24) we can “lay Him off” by the improper use of our free will. This was done time and again by Israel during the period of the judges. The nation would “lay God off” resulting in oppression by its idolatrous neighbors for a period of between seven and forty years. The people then “…cried to the Lord….” (Judges 4:3), God in His mercy and grace would raise up a leader to defeat the enemy du jour and the nation would enjoy peace for some forty to eighty years before the vicious cycle repeated itself.

Before we start accusing the Israelites of not learning from their misdeeds (aka sin) let’s take a look at our own actions. I know I’ve done some of the same things over and over but somehow have thought the results would be different and better. (Didn’t someone say this is the definition of insanity?) God allowed me to “lay Him off” for a while but time and again He came through when I asked for His help. Hopefully by now I’ve gotten the message that “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Have we treated God as “an Unemployed King” to be called back to work when we get in a jam? We’d do far better to retain Him as Master of our lives and (in the words of an old hymn) “…Walk with the Lord in the light of His Word….” Then we can fulfill Paul’s admonition to “Live your whole life in the Spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of your lower nature.” (Galatians 5:16, Phillips). Will you join me in praying for this to be a reality in our daily walk?

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan