America, a nation founded on the ideals of the Christian faith. A nation whose motto is “One Nation Under God”. A nation whose currency features the phrase, “In God We Trust”.
Yet, we have not trusted in God for generations. Instead, we left His side long ago, and with each passing Presidency, our nation slides further and further away from Him.
The Bible makes it clear, it’s God who appoints our leaders, rulers, and kings, (Romans 13:1). It is God who sets kings over us, (Daniel 2:21, 5:18). However, the very first time this occurred was not due to God’s decision or desires, it was due to mankind’s desires. It was the desire of the Israelites to have a man king reign over them, instead of God.
This was truly their downfall.
The Israelites made their request known to Samuel who was grieved in his heart.
Yet, God comforted Samuel saying,
“…Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
1 Samuel 8:7
God’s own People who He saved and protected had once again rejected Him, like so many times before, (Exodus 32:1-10, 35, Judges 3:7, 6:1).
It’s truly amazing to comprehend how a people could continually reject God, when He was the only good thing going for them. It shows our human nature to only do, see, and enjoy the things we can see with our eye, rather than honor the things we can only perceive with our spirit.
God would grant their request, but offered the Israelites an opportunity to remove their request. God asked Samuel to speak these words to the people.
And so Samuel did.
1 Samuel 8:11-13
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
While the Israelites were a free people under God’s reign, they along with their sons and daughters were to become bond servants to the first man king of Israel. This would not be a one time ordeal, but perpetual throughout time, even to this very day.
Samuel continues, speaking of the man king that will reign over the people.
1 Samuel 8:14-17
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
The Israelites would not only become bondservants, they would lose their property which they needed to sustain themselves. Properties that offered them freedom to live the way they choose, under God’s Law.
The man king would also tax a tenth of anything else that might remain in their possession.
That is all governments have ever done, is take from the people to enrich themselves. This was all a warning to the Israelites of what would forever be.
1 Samuel 8:18
And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
God offered them the opportunity to change their mind and continue to seek God as their King.
What would the people do after such a warning?
1 Samuel 8:19
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
And so it was.
Since that day, the Israelites always had a man ruling over them. Taking their property or taxing it. Taking their wages through taxation, problems that exist even to this day.
That was thousands of years ago, and we learned nothing from this historical example. Today, we repeat the same mistakes as the Israelites.
We continually seek men to reign over us, all while rejecting God.
We seek men to reign over us, men who themselves reject God, and take our property and wages through excessive taxation.
We seek men to reign over us, men who take us from one disaster to the next.
Instead of seeking God to correct our problems, we seek another man to correct the course of our disaster, as if they can save us.
We never seem to learn from history, because we never seem to seek out God.
So I hope you are asking yourself…
Why did God say, man kings would continually take from the Israelites?
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God said that as He knows the hearts of men, (1 Samuel 16:7). They easily become corrupted by greed, power, and wealth. Man continually seeks to take from his neighbor, what he himself will not work for.
God created us, He knows how we think, He knows without Him, we are a hopeless mess.
God also knows that Satan is “the god of this world”, (1 Corinthians 4:4). God made it known, that if we will not stand for God, then He will allow our adversary, the Devil to come into our camps, (1 Peter 5:8, 1 Chronicles 28:9). He will allow Satan to take over everything in an effort to drive us right back to God.
We have known since the time of Jesus that Satan has power over the nations. Power that Satan offered to Christ in the wilderness, (Matthew 4:8-9). While it was not tempting for Jesus, that power is certainly tempting for men, men who have no moral compass, (Psalm 36:4).
Men who have been conditioned to the ways of the world. Men who have rejected God and live their lives only seeking more gain, more wealth and power, just as God promised would happen in His conversation with Samuel, (1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:5).
When wicked kings like this arise over the people, the people always suffer. They always lose, but the people are not innocent in this. As we learned, it was the people who requested a man king to begin with.
So it is today.
It is the people who have turned away from God, which naturally means, we will obtain a leader that has turned away from God. It’s a vicious and continuous cycle.
If we have learned anything from the Bible and its history, it’s that God appoints the leaders we deserve. God appoints leaders who will oppress us, yes, to drive us right back to Him, (Jdg 2:11-15, 3:7-8, 3:12, 4:1-2, 6:1, 10:6-7, 13:1, 1Ki 11:6-12, etc).
This happened continually to the Israelites, Nehemiah 9:9-39 provides a great summary of that.
For the nations who call themselves Christian, the curses we find in the Bible certainly apply to us. They apply as we, a Christian people are supposed to demand more from our elected officials. We are supposed to demand more from society. We are supposed to be the guiding light of the world, and our flame continually seems to diminish, (Pro 4:18, Mat 5:16, Eph 5:8).
Just like the Israelites from so long ago.
As we look at our world today, as we look at society today, we see our nation and the world in a tail spin. We see people joyous in their rejection of God, (2 Thessalonians 2:12, Romans 1:32). We were warned these things would come upon us, as we, as a people, as a society, when we reject God, (Deut 31:16-17, 2 Ti 3:1-7, Rom 1:18).
When the light fades from a room, darkness naturally takes over.
We were warned, “in the last days perilous times shall come,” (2 Timothy 3:1).
Those perilous times are here.
The times when many will “call evil good, and good evil”. The times when many will “put darkness for light, and light for darkness”. The times when many will “put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter”, but “woe unto them”, (Isaiah 5:20).
We now live in a time where righteousness is considered unrighteous. A gross perversion of reality and truth, a gross perversion of God’s natural laws. All brought about by men seeking other men to lead them, instead of God.
The more we continue to leave God, the more His wall of protection departs from us, (1 Kings 9:6-9). The more we will be exposed to our fleshly and spiritual enemies. The more Christians will become the outcasts of society.
Yet, there is only one way to undo these things.
It’s not by electing a new President or leader of our nation. It’s not by seeking after another man, it’s by seeking after God and turning back to Him. As an individual, as a people, and nation.
Listen to God plead with us.
2 Chronicles 7:14
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.
We can only undo the wickedness that has gripped our nations by turning back to our Creator. We can only undo the wickedness by rejecting it and embracing God.
That takes effort from you, that takes effort from me.
It takes a change of heart.
A change that if we do not make, then we will continue to reap the morally corrupt leaders we deserve.