2 Samuel 23:2-3 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
Ah my Friends, the Good Lord saw it fit to bless us with showers of rain, and the thirsty land drank it in gratitude and appreciation. We should also be suitably grateful and appreciative for whatever personal mercies He chooses to shower on us today. And finally, we’ll hear the last words of Bruh David; (smile) ‘the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel.’ And what did he say? The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. Yes Friends, the Lord inspired him through His Spirit. Though it was only after Jesus died for us that each individual believer was filled with the Holy Spirit, before that it did come upon certain people of faith whom the Lord wanted to use; like the prophets of the Old Testament. As Peter acknowledges: ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ (2 Pet.1:21) They each had their particular style and distinctiveness, but their words and ideas were certainly God inspired. And so, The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord.’ Now Friends, that principle should be obvious to any right thinking person, but before we dissect the statement, let’s get a little background as to why the Lord inspired Bruh David to speak it out loud. We go right back to the Song of Moses, when he declared to Israel: ‘Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgement: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.’ (Deut.32:3-4) It follows logically from that my people, that if we have a God who is sinless, righteous, just and truthful, He will expect those who rule and guide His people to possess those same attributes in abundance, or as much as is humanly possible. Bruh David was one of those people, and he was basically relaying truths handed down from earlier generations, but still necessary for them to be disseminated so that they wouldn’t be forgotten, and would be applied in real life situations, not just mouthed for mouthing sake. It’s just like we teach our children how they ought to behave, what’s right from wrong, aspiring to lead them on the right path. Bruh David was here trying to drill into the heads of those that came after him, the basics of good government and leadership. The leaders must be ‘just ruling in the fear of God.’ And that last part is the most important my Friends: ‘ruling in the fear of the Lord.’ No matter how just and righteous we may be, if the Lord isn’t our guiding light, then we’ll still get it wrong. Listen to some of the best advice Moses ever got, and this from his father-in-law, Jethro. The old man saw the pressure poor Moses was under, seeking to solve all of Israel’s problems himself, so in his fatherly wisdom, advised him to teach the people the laws, show them the right path to walk and what work to do. ‘Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons.’ (Ex.18:21-22) Very wise advice mih people. In that way Moses would only deal with the large problems, not the petty, day to day, frustrating stuff. And no doubt that had something to do with the many different levels of government that exists today. Now in theory it sounds wise and admirable, but when put into practice can still cause innumerable problems. We must first note the qualities of the men Jethro advised Moses to elevate: ‘such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.’ Hn! That’s the hardest part of the job; finding the people with those qualifications, and also strong enough to resist the great temptations that power brings. And it’s right there the system begins to break down mih people. You’ll find a few of the right ones at most levels, but more likely than not, with the many levels of government we have today, many of those in power are not capable of doing the job, are not truthful are very covetous and greedy, and certainly don’t run their affairs with the Most High God Jehovah as their guiding light. Unfortunately, today the majority of people in power have the opposite attributes to what Jethro detailed. Consequently, corruption, inefficiency, greed and all the negatives are rampant in our current governments; from the lowest to the highest level. Even if the leader possesses the noble ideals of Jethro, like Moses, that’s only one person who can’t always control the behaviour or attitude of those around him. Just look at the sad state of the governments all around the world, all have major problems. Then look at what happened at the U. N recently; the aggressive, belligerent, impolite behaviour of the world’s leaders. Then on to Pittsburgh, another farce of enormous proportions, where the G.20, leaders of the richest and most powerful nations met to try and iron out some problems. And what did we get? More promises, which will most likely never materialize because every leader of every country has a different agenda. It amazes me that when it was the G.8, they couldn’t agree on much, can they when the group more than doubles in size? Ah Friends, our world is in such a mess, it’s scary. So many nations openly threatening each other or actually at war, so many internally unsettled, the nuclear arms problem, the broken world economy, the deteriorating environment, the religious differences, hunting whales, seals, dolphins, immigration policies, terrorist threats, immorality, crime and violence, and the old racism that’s raising it’s ugly head again. It’s enough to drive you crazy. But Friends, have you noticed the one thing that’s sadly missing? The God fearing part. For though all the nations claim to worship some deity that seeks peace, LOVE, harmony and good will amongst all men, none really practice it. And sadly my people, until our world wakes up and starts practicing what it preaches , we’ll all be constantly sitting at the edge of our seats, fearfully watching and wondering when will the next big war, the last one begin. It only takes one crazed or foolish person to get the ball rolling, and once that happens there’ll be no stopping it. So Friends, let’s pray long and hard for all our leaders, from the lowest to the highest, for the One True God Jehovah to imbue them with wisdom and a right heart and guide them on the right path, so that they can bring our world back from the brink of the abyss on which we’re currently tethering. To a certain extent, it also depends on us Friends, to put in power, those who can do the job properly. So let’s get our pray caps on and start doing some serious praying. Much LOVE!…leaders must be…able, truthful, courageous, trustworthy, unselfish…and above all…revere God, and willing to be directed by Him…
Ah my Friends, the Good Lord saw it fit to bless us with showers of rain, and the thirsty land drank it in gratitude and appreciation. We should also be suitably grateful and appreciative for whatever personal mercies He chooses to shower on us today. And finally, we’ll hear the last words of Bruh David; (smile) ‘the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel.’ And what did he say? The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. Yes Friends, the Lord inspired him through His Spirit. Though it was only after Jesus died for us that each individual believer was filled with the Holy Spirit, before that it did come upon certain people of faith whom the Lord wanted to use; like the prophets of the Old Testament. As Peter acknowledges: ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ (2 Pet.1:21) They each had their particular style and distinctiveness, but their words and ideas were certainly God inspired. And so, The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord.’ Now Friends, that principle should be obvious to any right thinking person, but before we dissect the statement, let’s get a little background as to why the Lord inspired Bruh David to speak it out loud. We go right back to the Song of Moses, when he declared to Israel: ‘Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgement: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.’ (Deut.32:3-4) It follows logically from that my people, that if we have a God who is sinless, righteous, just and truthful, He will expect those who rule and guide His people to possess those same attributes in abundance, or as much as is humanly possible. Bruh David was one of those people, and he was basically relaying truths handed down from earlier generations, but still necessary for them to be disseminated so that they wouldn’t be forgotten, and would be applied in real life situations, not just mouthed for mouthing sake. It’s just like we teach our children how they ought to behave, what’s right from wrong, aspiring to lead them on the right path. Bruh David was here trying to drill into the heads of those that came after him, the basics of good government and leadership. The leaders must be ‘just ruling in the fear of God.’ And that last part is the most important my Friends: ‘ruling in the fear of the Lord.’ No matter how just and righteous we may be, if the Lord isn’t our guiding light, then we’ll still get it wrong. Listen to some of the best advice Moses ever got, and this from his father-in-law, Jethro. The old man saw the pressure poor Moses was under, seeking to solve all of Israel’s problems himself, so in his fatherly wisdom, advised him to teach the people the laws, show them the right path to walk and what work to do. ‘Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons.’ (Ex.18:21-22) Very wise advice mih people. In that way Moses would only deal with the large problems, not the petty, day to day, frustrating stuff. And no doubt that had something to do with the many different levels of government that exists today. Now in theory it sounds wise and admirable, but when put into practice can still cause innumerable problems. We must first note the qualities of the men Jethro advised Moses to elevate: ‘such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.’ Hn! That’s the hardest part of the job; finding the people with those qualifications, and also strong enough to resist the great temptations that power brings. And it’s right there the system begins to break down mih people. You’ll find a few of the right ones at most levels, but more likely than not, with the many levels of government we have today, many of those in power are not capable of doing the job, are not truthful are very covetous and greedy, and certainly don’t run their affairs with the Most High God Jehovah as their guiding light. Unfortunately, today the majority of people in power have the opposite attributes to what Jethro detailed. Consequently, corruption, inefficiency, greed and all the negatives are rampant in our current governments; from the lowest to the highest level. Even if the leader possesses the noble ideals of Jethro, like Moses, that’s only one person who can’t always control the behaviour or attitude of those around him. Just look at the sad state of the governments all around the world, all have major problems. Then look at what happened at the U. N recently; the aggressive, belligerent, impolite behaviour of the world’s leaders. Then on to Pittsburgh, another farce of enormous proportions, where the G.20, leaders of the richest and most powerful nations met to try and iron out some problems. And what did we get? More promises, which will most likely never materialize because every leader of every country has a different agenda. It amazes me that when it was the G.8, they couldn’t agree on much, can they when the group more than doubles in size? Ah Friends, our world is in such a mess, it’s scary. So many nations openly threatening each other or actually at war, so many internally unsettled, the nuclear arms problem, the broken world economy, the deteriorating environment, the religious differences, hunting whales, seals, dolphins, immigration policies, terrorist threats, immorality, crime and violence, and the old racism that’s raising it’s ugly head again. It’s enough to drive you crazy. But Friends, have you noticed the one thing that’s sadly missing? The God fearing part. For though all the nations claim to worship some deity that seeks peace, LOVE, harmony and good will amongst all men, none really practice it. And sadly my people, until our world wakes up and starts practicing what it preaches , we’ll all be constantly sitting at the edge of our seats, fearfully watching and wondering when will the next big war, the last one begin. It only takes one crazed or foolish person to get the ball rolling, and once that happens there’ll be no stopping it. So Friends, let’s pray long and hard for all our leaders, from the lowest to the highest, for the One True God Jehovah to imbue them with wisdom and a right heart and guide them on the right path, so that they can bring our world back from the brink of the abyss on which we’re currently tethering. To a certain extent, it also depends on us Friends, to put in power, those who can do the job properly. So let’s get our pray caps on and start doing some serious praying. Much LOVE!…leaders must be…able, truthful, courageous, trustworthy, unselfish…and above all…revere God, and willing to be directed by Him…
SCRIP-BITS 