“Where the word of a King is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” (Ecc 8:4KJV) With these awesome quote from Solomon, often called the Preacher, I welcome you dear beloved into a new week. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has brought us this far will preserve us until the end of the year, if He tarries. Amen.
Beloved, I perceive it is necessary we take time out to remind ourselves of the salient facts contained in the opening scriptures above. We are conversant with earthly rule, and we know that earthly kings exercise their authorities over their subjects – people under their domain. They may earn the respect of others outside their domain or even gain their admiration. Nevertheless, the ability to enforce their authority lies within their domain. And I am glad we are not ignorant of our translation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13).
Now a disobedience to the king’s order in an earthly kingdom carries dire consequences. Irrespective of the myriads of excuses presented, their moral grounds, or how illogical the king’s order appears, the king’s word is Power! Queen Vashti’s case is one of the pictures illustrated in the scriptures to emphasise this. It’s clear King Ahasuerus acted under the influence of strong wine and his order requesting Vashti the Queen to come was self-aggravating – to show off her beauty before drunk officials. Nevertheless, the morality of her excuses for disobeying the king did not exempt her from the consequences! It was at the cost of her throne! Think about that! (Cf. Esther 1)
The preacher, in our opening text, goes further to intimate us of one of the reasons the king’s word cannot be treated with a laisser-faire (do as you like) disposition. It is because no one can question Him! This I believe should give us reasons to examine the way we have handled the Lord’s instructions, revelations and divine commitments in times past and the way we are handling them at the moment. Rationalizing God’s direct instructions to us based on human thinking, immediate circumstances or past negative experiences is the main grounding box that has kept a lot of us at a spot.
A similar example is given to us in the Gospel of Saint John (John 2:7-8). We are not told that Jesus prayed over the water; neither are we told that He blessed the water pots. And come to think of it: how relevant is the instruction to the need on ground? Wine! Fill the water pots with Water! Yet, they could have missed their miracle, if they had logically analyzed the situation or treated the King’s Word with nonchalance. How often we grieve the Spirit of God in this area.
Some of us handle the King’s word at our convenience! Solomon tells us in the next two verses that a wise man’s heart discerns both ‘time’ and ‘judgment’ because to every purpose there is ‘time’ and ‘judgment’ (Ecc 8:5-6). What a profound warning that is to us. It warns us of the consequences of procrastination. It informs us that every instruction from the King has a ‘time-element’ and ‘possible consequences’, if we miss the ‘timing’. (Cf. Luke 19: 41-44)
“You Son of Man are the Watchman. I have made you a watchman for Israel. The MINUTE you hear a MESSAGE from ME, WARN THEM! If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked Man, Wicked Woman, you are on a fast track to death!’ and you don’t speak up and warn the wicked to change their ways, the wicked will die unwarned in their sins AND I’LL HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR BLOODSHED.” (Eze 33: 7-8MSG – emphasis added) I do not know the implications of that, but I know it’s not going to be good. So, as we go this week, I want us to reflect on these time-dependent words of our King: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” (Cf. Matt 28:19-20) What excuse will you give for disobeying the King’s Order?
Do have a fabulous week.
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