Pop Quiz! In the next 10 seconds, how many political scandals can you remember, naming the scandal and the politician involved? GO!
Watergate and Nixon. (Choose a woman) and Clinton. (Choose a scandal) and Trump.
Everywhere we turn, it’s too easy to come up with problems in leadership spanning back a half century. While it is understandable how power can corrupt, this should not be so. Where are the true statesmen? Where are those men or women who set aside personal and political gain for what is best and needed? It seems that we are lacking these men and women in many ways.
Proverbs 31 actually has a few comments about this in particular.
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.Proverbs 31:1,4-5,8-9 (ESV)
King Lemuel, apparently, had a good grasp of what it meant to be a benevolent ruler. He understood that he was obligated to lookout for those who did not have the power or means to look after themselves simple because he did have the power to do so.
My question is this: If it is true that we are heirs to the kingdom, indeed co-heirs with Christ, then what is our obligation to behave in like manner? I believe that this passage, like others, encourage us to step out and demonstrate that care, not by mere words, but by action. In fact, the church could should stand out in the way we care for others simply because we are the church and therefore co-heirs with Christ. What can you do today to stand for those who can’t stand for themselves?
Moving Forward
With this post we come to the end of the book of Proverbs. While Proverbs 31 is generally more popular as a chapter about wives, I chose not to cover that in the devotion for the morning because we will be talking about wives throughout the entire month of February. Look for a post about that around lunchtime.
Next month, we will jump to the New Testament for a bit. Devotions will walk us through Hebrews, Philemon, James, Jude, and Philippians. Posts will continue to cover a chapter each, Monday through Saturday.
Thanks for following, happy reading, and God bless.
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