Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Authority
- Authority: Our calling. This comes from God as king. Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
Jehoshaphat
returns from battle and he is greeting by a prophet. The prophet tells him that he has done some
things well, but he has also neglected some of his duties among the
people. In other words, the prophet is
reminding that he is an example before the people. People are going to look to him and imitate him
because of the position he has in their life.
This is going to happen whether or not he wants them to. This is going to happen whether he knows them
or not. In a sense, this is going to
happen to him well beyond the scope of his control.
Jehoshaphat
realizes this and once more heeds the words of the prophet. He goes out and appoints leaders to help him
manage the people. This largely
parallels what Moses did when Jethro, his father-in-law, came to him and spoke
to him about managing the people.
Jehoshaphat appoint leaders who will be able to know the people and oversee
them far more personally than he can.
However, in
the midst of this process he receives another warning. He is reminded that he has an incredible
amount of authority upon him. He isn’t
just judging over people. He is judge
over God’s people and exercising God’s authority over them. He needs to be exceedingly careful, because
people will see his authority as an extension of God’s authority.
That’s just
how it is when we are in relationship with God.
When we are in relationship with Him, He desires us to go out into the
world and spread not only His grace and love but also His wisdom, truth, and
righteousness. We are to be His
representatives. We do go out with His
calling. We go out with His approval. But we also go with His authority. That is an incredible blessing. It is also an incredible burden to remember
as we go forth to be His representative to the world.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment