Kings and Kingdoms

I recently traveled to Scotland where we were surrounded by a kind of ancient tradition and influence that we just don’t have the same connection to as Americans.  As I walked through the ancient castle ruins at Dunnottar, I could not help but think about what living there would have been like during its prosperity.  From what we read, it was occupied by the second most important citizen to the King and would have been a place of immense wealth and status…six hundred years after its final inhabitant, it was reduced to something that without insight, I would not have been able to decipher a lot of what I was seeing.  I thought a lot about power and influence and leadership throughout that tour.  I wondered how they obtained their positions of power, how they convinced those to follow them and fight for them as many attempted to attack and raid the fortress on the Sea.  I also wondered if they ever imagined that all the wealth and power would end someday and only be remembered in placards and rubble.

As we read through Judges 9-12 and Psalm 73, we are faced with two very different leaders.  In Judges, Abemilek misguided, fear mongered, and swindled his way into a leadership role by convincing his people that because of his lineage that he was fit to lead.  Asaph, although scholars do not completely agree on his identity, was likely an appointed leader and song writer in David’s Levitical choir.  Much like the Psalms written by David, Asaph takes a much more transparent and rebuking approach to his feelings of injustice toward power, wealth, and leadership and then ends the Psalm by redirecting the reader to focus on the eternal and not the temporary.  

You see, both of these leaders suffered from the same human conditions thousands of years ago that we face in our modern world.  I think it’s safe to say that we have all, at some point in our lives, had feelings of injustice as to why some obtain wealth and power and others don’t.  We have all seen individuals in those upper echelons that our human hearts would say “don’t deserve to be there”.  I will admit that I have!  Much like Asaph, we are confused by why God would allow someone like Abemilek to hold and obtain power….it seems counterintuitive to God’s plans for peace and love and spreading His word.  But the truth is, all human leadership falls short of God’s plans.  None of us, regardless of our opinions of righteousness of one man over another, can totally fulfill God’s plan for a perfect leader - save one man, Jesus.  Money is amoral.  It has no soul with which to decide its righteousness.  It is simply a tool that fortunately, or unfortunately, reflects the heart and acts only with the intention of its handler.  I have witnessed both the wealthy and the poor do incredibly Godly things with the money they have.  And I have also witnessed incredibly unGodly things done with money from both groups.  The possession of leadership, power, and money is not the issue, but when we give money, wealth, and power leadership over our lives, our hearts change as was the case for Abemilek. 

Asaph writes such a beautiful and profound verse in Psalm 73:23-25 as his heart seemingly begins to reflect on the beauty of his position.  He says, “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel., and afterward you will take me into glory.  Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire beside you.”  He leads the reader to understand that his treasure is measured in only one position…his position with God.  Conversely, Abemilek put all his self-worth into his earthly position and represented himself as a leader that he was not.  I adore the transparency of Asaph’s leadership.  The ability to admit your flawed human condition yet direct your heart to God’s will toward the ultimate treasure seems rare in our world and sometimes takes a lifetime to achieve….sometimes is never achieved.  As I walked through that ancient castle ruin in Scotland, the verse from the well-known hymn “There’s Something About That Name” kept running through my mind.  It says “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, There’s just something about that name….Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, But there’s something about that name”.  We are all leaders of something….your business, your team, your children, your life…Imagine what we could do for the Kingdom of Heaven if this were the theme song that we played in our minds as we enacted those leadership roles!