I'm reading in the book of Daniel. This morning as I read Daniel 4 I was struck by the picture painted there of the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar. It seemed a good balance to Paul's words in Romans 13 where the government is given the sword to punish the evil doer. Here the picture is one of human flourishing.
10 The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. Daniel 4
3 comments:
Sounds pretty big government to me... ;)
Yet it was obviously missing something because God take's it away. Why because it did not acknowledge God.
"your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."
Shouldn't we be more concerned with the 'hearts' of our rulers than with what they provide?
God takes it away, not because it is bad, but because it doesn't acknowledge him as the source of power. When that acknowledgment happens, all and more is restored.
I agree we must be concerned with the hearts of our rulers, but when their hearts are full of God the question becomes what is their task? What does a ruler who follows God do? I think the picture of Daniel with the tree that provides (is this the ideal picture since Neb. didn't live up to it; Daniel calls him to do justice and care for the poor in verse 27) is an excellent picture of the kind of shalom that governments need to be aiming for.
Post a Comment