How God Handles Authority

This morning I was struck by how God's ways are so unlike the ways of man.  Give a man a little authority and he will fight to maintain it; God has all authority and He chooses to allow men to do as they choose.  He does not force.  He warns, but does not threaten.  He tells us the certain negative consequences of our rebellion and disobedience, and even allows His own children to wander from the right way.

This facet of God's gracious character is displayed when the children of Israel demanded that Samuel establish a king over them.  When the people communicated their desire to be as other nations and have a king to lead them into battle, Samuel was angry.  He knew that God was the King of the nation and over all, and this desire to have a king was a grave affront to the grace He had demonstrated.  For the Hebrews to say they wanted an earthly king instead of God, it was like a son disowning his own father.  Instead of smashing this insurrection with a heavy hand, God chose to give the people their desire.  1 Samuel 8:7-9 reads, "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. ⁸ 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. ⁹ Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them."  God was rejected by His own people, the ones He delivered from slavery in Egypt and brought them victorious into the Promised Land, having established them as a nation.  Though He did everything for them, they cast Him carelessly aside.

God did an amazing thing in allowing His people to have a king.  Saul started well, but became proud, bloodthirsty, and quite insane.  God later established David as king, a man after his own heart.  Though the people rejected God by wanting to be like others, God would send a Messiah to redeem all people from their sin through the line of David.  This is phenomenal, that God would redeem even the wanderings of His own people to provide salvation through Christ for all!  Jesus Christ was rejected by the Jews, even as the Father's rule was rejected by the Jews in Samuel's day.  God has even redeemed this as well, for because of the Jew's refusal of Christ as Saviour the Gentiles have been brought into the kingdom of God through the Gospel.  In Christ we see that same gentle spirit, meekness, and all authority.  The Good Shepherd knows when His sheep wander, and He allows them to do so.  In the end His purposes will be obtained, and He receives the glory for it.  When we wander, He pursues us to win us back.

In the position of authority God has granted you, do you tend towards domineering?  Do you fight and angle for control?  When the authority God has given to you is challenged do you become angry and take up the case with God?  Or do you threaten, force, or coerce others to fall in line through your own schemes?  When the authority of Moses was challenged in Korah's rebellion, he fell on his face before God.  God fought for him.  When the authority of David was challenged by his own son, he fled the city and trusted God.  God delivered him from the sword and established him again upon the throne.  When Jesus was betrayed, falsely accused, tortured and murdered - though the Son of God, God-made-flesh with all power and authority from the Father - He allowed the scourge to open His back, the thorns to pierce His brow, and nails to pierce His hands and feet.  He said, "Father, forgive them.  They know not what they do."  Three days after His death Jesus rose to life glorified, having all authority over life, death, and hell.  Those who remain in their sins will face the fierceness of God's wrath, but those who heed His warnings and repent, trusting in Christ as Saviour, will be saved.

All on this earth will someday answer to the Ultimate Authority:  God.  The supernatural way He loves people and compassionately, patiently offers them mercy and grace with forgiveness is the touchstone for how the authority God has granted to us must be exercised.  On our own this is impossible, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!