Government is Ordained by God
Be Strong, Be Well — Wednesday, July 1
Some of the most bizarre things are happening all around us. Some people have turned their local communities into war zones. There is open rebellion against authority, rejection of law and order, civil disobedience, and protests demanding an end to law enforcement. Violence against police officers seems to be perfectly justified in their angry minds.
Local authorities are wringing their hands, scrambling around trying to figure how to appease these violent anarchists.
It takes us back to Old Testament times when the prophet said, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
First of all, government is ordained by God. He has granted them the authority to protect good citizens and punish the evil ones (Romans 13:3, 4). To resist the authority of government is to resist God’s own ordinance (13:1, 2).
We have a direct command. “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13-14).
When people disobey just and moral authority, they are disobeying the highest authority—God. Human authorities may bow to the demands of evildoers. They may be intimidated when the threat of violence grows stronger. They may fold to the pressure of those who thumb their noses at the demands of law and order. But rest assured, God never will.
“Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished…” (Proverbs 11:21). “...He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 17:5).
“Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You” (Psalm 5:10).
"I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible” (Isaiah 13:11). —Chris