Kings God established
I was reading Jeremiah 22 today, and as soon as I read the first five verses, I started having a certain “flow” I’m familiar with… and it was about why God establishes Kings, and what they often fail to remember after a certain time, before they start compromising and falling.
The context was set in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC, during the final politically unstable decades of the kingdom of Judah. This kingdom was squeezed between Egypt and Babylon, before it got historically invaded and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Real events.
In that city, there was the young Jeremiah, who used to hear God’s voice and tell people what the Lord was saying. He had had a while saying that the city was going to be invaded and it was God’s will. Of course the people didn’t want to hear that, it was some scary news. But God was saying that they had done too much atrocities, He would bring Nebuchadnezzar to tear the city down as a kind of judgement. (Judgements are God’s laundry system, let’s say it like that). Therefore, in the verses I read, the Lord sent him then to warn the King of Judah, and give him a chance to avoid that destruction. This is what the Lord said :
“Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then (…[good news]…). But if you do not obey these commands, declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.” (Jeremiah 22:3-5).
Why does God elevate people?
As soon as I finished reading this chapter, and based on other patterns God consistently shows in His dealings with kings, something became clear to me. God elevates people so they can carry out the nature of his own authority, and do His specific will in a given time and place.
God establishes many kings. When He does, it’s not for “their beautiful eyes”, but for His absolute purpose and things He wants to be done. Spoiler alert: these are usually hard things! Not that hard per se, but because our society has made these things unpopular yet they are God’s ways, so it will feel like going against the currents. However, God’s ways are the best ways for humanity’s wellbeing. Let’s be honest, things like justice, righteousness, rescuing people from abuses… What can healthy people have against those?
As you remain in God’s will, nothing can take you down, no matter how perilous your context of operation may look. Himself will keep protecting you, for you will be operating under His authority and nothing can throw God’s authority. When you don’t have this knowledge to sustain your faith in Him, while hell releases all kinds of pressure and does its best performance, it will be easy to run away or fold (not out of wisdom, but out of fear). But doing so, you dishonor God because you stop trusting in His ability to carry you through, and you would’ve let the fear of men trap and overthrow you from the position God entrusted you with.
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. (Prov. 29:25).
The office itself is not the throne people see, nor the seat, the titles or uniforms. Those are just visible manifestations of legitimate authority. But the office itself is first spiritual. It is an alignment where God Himself creates a direct link with you to instruct you, so you can lead and operate according to His own direction and wisdom.
Two kingdoms always at war (spiritual battles).
You don’t even have to be spiritual (not even mentioning being religious: being religious is nothing relevant), you don’t even have to be aware of anything, you just need to step into one little thing God really had planned for your life, I mean the tiniest little thing aligned with your destiny, to begin experimenting hell’s backlash and all kind of trials and discouragement. Same, when His kings step into position, soon enough, hell’s pressure and tactics will stir people and corrupted forces of nature against them, against what they have to accomplish. Huge waves of opposition, all kinds of hardship will raise to unalign and test them. Sometimes, and because it can get really challenging and terrifying, many kings God once appointed, end up disqualifying themselves, by removing their eyes upon the divine power that sustains them, to start fearing the pressure and the fire instigated around them.
When Kings dishonor God by taking hell’s pressure in instead of keeping on trusting God, God eventually turns His back as well, and often delivers them to their ennemies. For, giving into that kind of fear is to expect darkness to win, when all hell does is only well played theatrical manipulation of realities, baiting on your mind to take them in. God’s will is substantial. It’s the only real thing about to happen, but it’s out there in the invisible realm (outside of the “matrix”, this false world our mind is used to, and that hell manipulates so well). Therefore, giving into fear is easier than enduring in faith, trusting and surrendering to God by taking actions, doing the hard stuff, and keeping moving until fruition.
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
not paying them for their labor (…)
“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father [the previous King] have food and drink?
He did what was right and just,
so all went well with him.
He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?”
declares the Lord.
But your eyes and your heart
are set only on dishonest gain,
on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. (…) I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and the Babylonians. (Jeremiah 22: 13-25)
It really takes spine to stay aligned with God and stand firm during those trying times of pressure and unpopularities, and God doesn’t work with mollusks. The last chapter of the last book of the Bible has a clear statement in which cowards are the first ones listed among those assigned to stay eternally far from Him.
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revel. 21: 8).
That is also why God has a pattern of preparing these kings all their lives, way before they arrive where He has been waiting for them. God will supply them with all that is needed to the success of what they have to do for Him. The only thing He normally asks for is to obey Him and not to fear.
But as soon as you fold, it’s over and your fall has been set. It kind of makes sense, because ultimately, God reigns over mankind’s matters. So how can you leave the Almighty’s power to turn to men’s strength out of fear of their power, and expect to win at the end of the day? This is actually treason to God.
When Kings start taking in opposing pressure, when they begin to turn to men to remain in power, therefore placing them above God who established them in the first place, the compromises then begin. Removing their eyes from God to sustain them through it all, they cut themselves off the genuine source of authority. Then they also start losing sight on what the office truly is, confusing it with the privileges, the visible signs, becoming rather attached to the shadows than to their source and spiritual reality. Relying more and more on men, they will then drift further and further from the purpose God had established them for. That’s also where manipulation, deception, fear tactics and corrupt strategies might enter the room because divine and genuine authority left.
At the beginning, it feels almost natural to them, organic, they usually have inspired and inspiring courage, but soon enough, when things start to look extremely out of control, they would start believing the voice of the hardship. They would start believing the fire’s ability to take them or their families away, rather than keeping on trusting the Almighty God’s protection and faithfulness. Another pattern observed is that, through those fires and very hard times, God “supplied” people to His kings. I have yet to find a case in the Bible where He didn’t (I’ll have to keep reading). He assigned people to help and support them, but their main anchor and source of strength has to remain God Himself, and that seems to be these kings’ battle of faith.
God Leads His Kings.
God leads His kings. They will know what to do, as their hearts are in God hands leading them.
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. (Prof 21:1)
They will just need to trust God, though it will not be easy like we just mentioned; but trusting God they never fail, nor end up ashamed. No matter how perilous it looks, as long as God backs you up, you will come out clean.
Kings secret (also a business tip):
Fires, hardship and pressure are undercover opportunities
Talking about fire, it’s probably better to let a fire consume what keeps us away from Him, what’s ugly in our soul. As it gets harder to endure, we can altogether let our weaknesses bring you closer to God and to His word for strength, and maybe will you learn to commune on other levels with Him while the storm rages outside.
Any fire in one’s life can become a pretext to cling more unto God, as if life depended on Him, because it actually does, and especially in those times. But the moment we fold, that’s it. Same happens with King Saul, and same going on with the warning Jeremiah gave to Judah’s king mentioned above. But I believe (my opinion) that there’s always repentance, which is still God’s grace for restoration of anything lost.
Let the perilous fire teach us how to bow on our knees to acknowledge our great need of His presence. Utter your fears, rage, plead, but never fold. This is why God established you, He knows you are the one for this. He built you and appointed you for a time like this. He doesn’t ask you to feel like it. He asked you to believe Him and to keep going on. At the end, if you glorify Him, your name will never be put to shame. This is His promise.
God’s projects will come to past anyway, but why would you disqualify yourself, when He chose you as a channel, as a vessel to make it happen. He knows you, invested in you, prepared you, and brought you there. He will sustain you and get you through. Don’t fold.
Take heart. It takes courage to follow God. It takes spine to be God’s son or daughter for a time like this. Jesus-Christ’s example is the best to teach us about all this, for after the cross, comes the glory.
That was the “flow” I got after reading Jeremiah 22. Hope it makes sense to you.
And hopefully my next article is less intense and more chill… Crossing my fingers
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See you around!