Amazing God of love and peace, pour out Your Spirit on the needs of this dear reader today and all days; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Psalm 72: 1 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God, the gift of just rule to the crown prince. 2 May he judge your people rightly, be honorable to your meek and lowly. 3 Let the mountains give exuberant witness; shape the hills with the contours of right living. 4 Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants. 5 Outlast the sun, outlive the moon - age after age after age. 6 Be rainfall on cut grass, earth-refreshing rain showers. 7 Let righteousness burst into blossom and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing. 10 Kings remote and legendary will pay homage, kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth. 11 All kings will fall down and worship, and godless nations sign up to serve him, 12 Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need, the destitute who have run out of luck. 13 He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out, he restores the wretched of the earth. 14 He frees them from tyranny and torture - when they bleed, he bleeds; when they die, he dies.
Growing up there was a show my Mom loved to watch and I, when I could sit still long enough, did too. The show was called, "Queen for A Day." The premise of the show was to fulfill every woman's dream of getting a new washer or dryer. Yes, big fun. The fun for me was seeing the women shriek in joy over having won this new appliance for their home. Host Jack Bailey would ask the tv audience as well as those in the studio, "Would you like to be queen for a day?" Yes, it was as one critic said, ""one of the most ghastly shows ever produced" and further stated it was "tasteless, demeaning to women, demeaning to anyone who watched it, cheap, insulting and utterly degrading to the human spirit." (Mark Evanier) It worked in its time. It sold commercials at $4,000 a minute which was a record for its day. Why do I even bring this up? To ask, what would you do, were you made king or queen for a day? And please don't say you'd want a new washer/dryer or range oven!
The Psalmist knew that to be a good king, one had to seek wisdom from God and to seek to do the will of God. In our little "kingdoms" or "reigns" we have, how are we doing? Re-read the list of things a good sovereign addresses: Justice, fair treatment to the ones who normally don't get that, a life so God-centered that even nature joins in their singing of praises to God, advocacy for the poor, assistance for the children in need, a life that is brighter than the sun and stronger than the moon. The imagery is great in this version, "be rainfall for the grass, earth-refreshing showers," and live a life that identifies with the needs and plight of all. It seems like a tall order but it's a forerunner to what Jesus would say in His Sermon on The Mount and later in Matthew 25 at the Last Judgment, a listing of things we should be doing to help those in need. The spirit of fear and ignorance that has gripped oh too many today has turned many hearts away from others and inward to caring and worrying only about ourselves and our money. The heart of the believer must turn to God and as a result turn to the needs of others.
PRAYER: Loving God, forgive me for those times I worry more about myself and my needs than I do about others. Help me to see that as I am influential in my little kingdom, let me use it for good and for Your glory. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
