thaliah had determined to be free of God’s direction in her life. Her personal goal was to destroy the seed of David and to usurp control of the throne of Israel for herself. Much like Herod centuries later, she would not have God’s chosen heir reign over her. As Herod slaughtered the infants in Bethlehem, Athaliah slaughtered David’s heirs in Israel. Her attempt to thwart God’s plan failed, of course. She missed the child, Josiah! God established His chosen King and Athaliah was executed. That will happen again. We read in the Bible that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
But we must choose our allegiance now. We either accept God’s reign in our life or we reject, deny, or ignore it. We must declare our dependence on our God once and for all in our hearts through a profession of faith in Christ. Then we must daily (if not momentarily) affirm that declaration in our choices and actions.
We Americans love our independence. We even celebrate it once a year! I think we misunderstand it sometimes. Although it was a declaration of Independence from a tyrannical king, it was originally intended to be a declaration of “Dependence” on the heavenly king. When it was signed in 1776, Samuel Adams declared: We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.?”
Here’s a good daily prayer of dependence: So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help. Amen
Chuck
“In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for ‘God opposes the proud but favors the humble.’” 1 Peter 5:5(NLT)