Is Jesus Your King?

1 Samuel 8: 6 - 9, But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day -- with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods -- so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them." NKJV

 As individuals and as the body of Christ, we must never make the mistake of asking God out of our lives, and then turning to man to provide what only God can. Is Jesus your King? Do you look to Him to supply all of your needs? Israel asked to replace their spiritual King with an earthly one, and God granted that desire. Nevertheless, in the following scripture, God told Samuel what will happen to a nation when they have known God, but decide to reject Him as King because they believe man has a better way of leading them. 

1 Samuel 8: 11 - 18, And he said,"This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day." NKJV

Remember, when God led His people into the wilderness, it wasn't man who provided their needs; it was their God. As long as Israel allowed God to rule over them, even though they didn't obey His voice, He took great care of them (Deuteronomy 8). They were required to live on what God provided for them in the wilderness; however, they weren't in bondage to any man or dictator lording over them. 

Even so, the moment they rejected God as their king, God warned them of the severe consequences that would come upon them by making such a foolish decision. As long as God was permitted to be their provider and protector, the children of Israel didn't have the burden of being accountable for their own provisions. However, once they decided that man was a better choice than God, they became responsible to "Keep man up," so that he could take "care of them." 

Now, does that sound like a wise trade-off? Absolutely not! It wasn't the king who was providing for the people; neither was he defending the people. It was the people who were both doing all the work and sacrificing their children for the king. What kind of horrible system is this? Even so, nations throughout history have chosen to accept man's rule over God's. They have sacrificed their sons and daughters, as well as their liberties, in order to reject God and give a man rule over them.

When America began to turn its back on God, it was in a much better state of affairs than it finds itself in today. Like Israel, we have placed ourselves in bondage to man by rejecting God as our King... to a degree. In the past 12 years, America has increased its debt more than 10 trillion dollars. If we look at a graph on the internet of the rate of U.S. borrowing since its inception as a country, we will realize that we are suddenly drowning ourselves in national debt. Since our government can't produce money, but receives its revenue from its citizens, we are now called upon to take care of the mounting debt. All the while, economists and governmental officials have been warning our leaders that this direction will soon bankrupt our country. 

However, here is the point of today's word: No man can take God's place as king in our lives or in our nations. There is no man and no nation that has enough wealth to replace God. In Psalms 24, we're told that the earth and its fullness and everyone who lives upon the earth belong to God. Therefore, only God can take care of man's needs.

The needs of the people are far too great for us to take care of apart from God's goodness and favor. Our economic situation in America is just another warning sign telling us that we need to repent and turn to God and ask Him to be our King once again. As long as America acknowledged the God of the Bible, at least in its activities in the government and society, we as a nation flourished. However, now that this nation has kindly asked God to give us a man to rule over us, just as Israel did, we have quickly slipped into bondage. 

Let us, who know the Lord and seek to follow in His ways begin to humble ourselves and seek God's face and His mercy for our great nation. Perhaps He will take our sacrifice of praise and prayer and turn the deeds that were meant to produce evil by Satan and use them to bring about a mighty move of God in our land (2 Chronicles 7: 14).

Many churches began a 21-day fast this week. Will you join with us in prayer and fasting for the salvation of nations to be performed in 2013? God is waiting on the return of His people to righteous and holy living before He can move in our nation(s). If you have a desire and a hunger to be a part of this time of humility and repentance, please email us and let us know. One can chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight. Thank you for your participation. prayer@whcnorth.org

Jesus Is the King of Kings,
Pastor Asa Dockery