Inside: Don’t let your officials break God’s laws! May we stand up for what is right and what is Godly.

During a time recorded in 1 Samuel, David was running for his life from King Saul.  In fact, David himself described this time (1 Sam 20:3) by saying there was “but a step between me and death”.  One day when he was fleeing (recorded in 1 Sam 21), he came to Ahimelech the Priest, and David asked him for help in the form of food or weapons.  Ahimelech gave him some day-old shew bread (which is another fun conversation but not the point of today’s article), and the sword of Goliath (yes, that Goliath… the giant that David had slain years earlier as a young boy).  The problem arose because there was a guy there that day who saw what Ahimelech gave David.  His name was Doeg, and he was the chief shepherd for King Saul. 

Later, in 1 Sam 22:9-11, Doeg sees his chance to gain more favor with the king, and tells Saul that Ahimelech had given food and a sword to David.  With that, Saul calls not only Ahimelech, but also “all his father’s household”, and they report at once…  During the very brief investigation of what happened, Ahimelech reminds Saul that he did nothing wrong because David is Saul’s most honored and faithful servant, the captain of his guard, and oh, by the way, is also Saul’s son-in-law.  None of that matters to Saul and Saul orders the death of Ahimelech and all the household who were with him.

A Great Victory

In our previous article, A Biblical Example of the People Overruling the King, we saw how King Saul was ready to kill his son, Jonathan, for violating a hasty and arbitrary order, unknown to Jonathan, that prohibited eating. The soldiers of Saul’s army refused to obey because God had used Jonathan to bring about a great victory.  We saw the people of God help to establish and enforce the boundaries of government officials – and they saved Jonathan’s life. 

But now in today’s example of King Saul’s tyranny… 1 Sam 22:17, Saul orders his guard to kill Ahimelech and all his father’s house.  Look what happens at the end of that verse…  “But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.”  BOOM!  Here we see another beautiful illustration of lawful resistance to a king’s unlawful order.  The guards of the king would not carry out his unlawful order!  I love this!  If only the story ended there…  Sadly though, it does not… 

A Great Failure

Saul then tries another approach in verse 18 and tells Doeg to carry out the mass murder, which he promptly does.  He kills Ahimelech and the other priests of his family – 85 priests of the Lord.  Something hit me as I read this passage.  Doeg was not a soldier…  he was the Chief Shepherd (1 Sam 21:7).  I know a shepherd, especially during that timeframe, was no wimp.  Undoubtedly, Doeg, like David as a shepherd, had probably fought some animals in defense of the king’s flocks in his shepherd days, but he was no soldier.  I would also assume that the King’s guard, you know, the guys who just valiantly refused the king’s unlawful order, were probably exceptional soldiers.  They were likely the best of the best, and they knew enough to refuse the order, and yet it appears they did nothing to keep the Chief Shepherd from carrying out the King’s tyrannical and criminal decree. Friends, that is shameful. 

In today’s world, we are seeing tyrants at all levels waging war on the laws of God.  Yesterday I was reading in Isaiah and I came across this passage:

The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.                         

– Isaiah 24:4-6

How is the earth being polluted in this verse?  It is polluted by its inhabitants who transgressed laws, violated statues, and broke the everlasting covenant.   All the while, too often, we stand by and do NOTHING.  All too often, the churches of our land say God’s people are not to involve ourselves in politics, and yet in this verse, God is ready to destroy the world because of transgressed laws, broken statutes, and broken covenant.  Are these things not important to God?  He’s about to destroy the world – how can we NOT engage on these things?  Even if He does destroy the world, would we rather be found staying out of it – or actively resisting these things?  Dear God, may your people not stand idly by – may we NEVER stand idly by – like King Saul’s guards who did nothing to protect the 85 priests.  May we engage in these fights and hold our officials accountable and not allow them to break your law.  Amen. 

Stand Up Like Mrs. Mesaros

What does it look like to have an American citizen stand up and hold her officials accountable?  I would offer the example of Mrs. Mesaros, one of the stars of the show in our articles, Does Free Speech Still Exist in America? and First Amendment Victory.  She is not standing idly by.  She is not allowing local officials to transgress laws, violate statutes, and break covenants.  She is holding them accountable.  She has been working with her State Representative, rallying concerned citizens and concerned organizations, and fighting valiantly at City Council meetings in her hometown.  Recently, as a result of her efforts, her local school district library closed down for 10 days, and removed 81 inappropriate (actually let’s just call it what it is…  pornographic) books from school shelves to protect children in her town.  The impact of this was covered in an article by the Texas Scorecard Central Texas School District Reviews Books To Ensure Compliance With Law.  If you live in Texas and haven’t signed up for the Texas Scorecard Texas Minute email or podcast, you should do that to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in our state!  Another wonderful way to show fighters like Mrs Mesaros you appreciate her fighting the fight is to visit her website Free Speech Defender and contribute to her legal expenses she has encountered with the crazy legal case we described in our articles linked above. 

Don’t let your officials break God’s laws!  May we all stand up and fight the Doegs in our hometowns who ruthlessly carry out the tyrannical and criminal wishes of the King Saul equivalents across our country.  May we stand up for what is right and what is Godly.  May the Lord’s judgement on this earth be delayed and may more see, know, and love Him as a result of our efforts.  Amen.