There was a period in the history of man and God where man did not have a king. After the Israelites conquered the promised land, they lived on the land of promise, but they no longer had Moses or Joshua as their spiritual and earthly leaders. I guess it would be natural that the people would soon fall away from following God when their spiritual leaders had been lost and not replaced. In a way, since Moses and Joshua died, the people let God die in their lives. They allowed themselves to do as they pleased.
That was then. What does it feel like to us today? Judges 17:6 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” So, what does it mean “right in his own eyes”? If you and I see the same thing, but you see it differently than me, is it possible that we could both be right? Could both of us be wrong? I submit that the only way to be right in your own eyes is to give up your right for what is right before God.
When the Israelites had to learn to live without Joshua and without Moses, they had to learn to live before God. But they didn’t do this. Instead, they fought one another trying to live before one another. People who had lived as one—as brothers, as relatives, as children of God—now lived as enemies towards one another. They became noisy before one another. They pursued what was right and best for themselves more than for anyone else. They took one another before judges to have matters of dispute settled. In many ways, they found it easier to live together as enemies than as brothers. How could this be? Because God is the only thing that can bring together things that would naturally be separate. The Israelites couldn’t love one another. The most the judges could do was to enable them to manage their hate and dislike towards one another.
When we fight with one another about what is right or wrong, we are more likely to be wrong than we are to be right. Why is this so? Because the only standard for what is right is found in God, so when we base right and wrong on anything else, we are likely to get it wrong. We can be right before man, but man could still be wrong in his judgment. Every king must have a king, every captain must have a captain, every law must itself have a law, every leader must have a leader, and every piece of authority must have over it an authority. Everyone one of us who would rule our own lives must ourselves have a ruler over our lives. If we have no one to answer to but ourselves, then we have no way of knowing if we are right or wrong because we are a poor standard for what is right.
If you want to live in right standing before man, learn to live humbly before God. If you want what is right from man, learn to live humbly before God. If you want your neighbor to do right before you, learn to live right before God. If you want what all men want, learn to quiet down your life before men and live quietly before God. He will make sure you have all the things you need—the things others seek in the wrong ways. If you need judgment, quiet your life, and let Him judge first. Learn how not to live like man lives. If you do what man does, you will receive the sentence that man will receive. Man’s best is nothing compared to God’s provision showered upon you. Try to live before Him in humble submission to His Lordship over your life. If God is your God, if He is your King, if He is your Lord, then you will learn to live a quiet peaceable life in submission to the higher things of the Spirit that are not seen by those who live for themselves. If you quiet down, God will speak up on your behalf and make the noise of you and about you in the lives of others. Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 