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Loyalty Above All Else
Right now, our world is in tremendous uproar politically. We all seem to be standing on a ledge with our breath held as we wait for the events to unfold before us. It’s a precarious place to be no matter which way you lean politically. We average Joe’s can’t do much else. We wait, watch, and wait some more.
However, Christians have another tool in their belt. It’s called prayer. What a wonderful thing when we go into our private places and make petitions to the Lord on behalf of our country and our world. Matthew 6:6 has Jesus instructing his people, “When you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” God takes great pleasure when his people come into his presence. He also knows that people who pray in secret have true faith in Him. Prayer is not a show and it’s not meant to impress others. Prayer is the way we directly communicate with our God, the Creator of the universe. While I do believe that corporate prayer is also important, it’s a tool that can be mishandled and can cause damage. In that same chapter of Matthew, Jesus also says: “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people.” Jesus is reminding us here that prayer is for Him and not for others.
This morning I read an article about (and watched a video) of a Representative, an ordained Christian pastor, who prayed an opening for the first session of the 117th Congress. This might normally be something Christians celebrate. Isn’t it a representation of God in government? It would be exactly that, instead this cherished Christian practice was mishandled and I wonder what God thinks about that. This ordained pastor made pleas to god that would be typical for a government setting. He used Christian language and terminology throughout his prayer and even quoted the book of Numbers. However, the Representative ended his prayer like this: “We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and ‘god’ known by many names by many different faiths, Amen and a-woman.”
The article by Brown linked above clearly explains that the word Amen has nothing to do with gender and is most often translated “so be it.” He also explains that Brahma is a Hindu deity. I would like to show you how seriously our monotheistic God handles those who mishandle requests that should be made in His name alone.
2 Kings chapter one is the story of Ahaziah King of Israel. At that point in history there was division in the Hebrew nation with the ten tribes in the north falling under Ahaziah as Israel and the two tribes in the south under Jehoshaphat King of Judah. The northern tribes were steeped in a pagan culture and turning to pagan gods. This was certainly seen as disloyalty to God according to Exodus 22:20 “Whoever sacrifices to any gods, except the Lord alone, is to be set apart for destruction.” Judah, on the other hand, was not influenced by pagan practices and King Jehoshaphat was a faithful follower of God unlike Ahaziah. According to 1 Kings 22:43, “He (Jehoshaphat) walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight.” Ahaziah and Jehoshaphat were both part of God’s chosen people but both also had the choice to obey God and walk in His ways or not. We will see that Ahaziah was not faithful to God in a very similar way as the Representative who prayed in the 117th Congress.
Ahaziah was injured in a fall. He sent some his messengers to find a pagan prophet that could enquire with a pagan god as to whether or not he would recover. The angel of the Lord brought a message to Elijah the Tishbite, and instructed him to go to Ahaziah’s messengers with a message of his own. King Ahaziah would not recover from his wounds because he was enquiring with other gods. Elijah said this to Ahaziah in their final meeting, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is not God in Israel for you to inquire of His will?—you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.” (2 Kings 1:16-17a). God didn’t mess around. He is not a fan of those who are disloyal to Him.
The prayer in Congress ended prayer in disloyalty to God and I think that Christians should be aware. The prayer was spoken in a place of leadership in our government at a time of serious upheaval and unrest and made pleas to false gods. It shouldn’t matter which party you support, as Christians, we should want to see the will of God play out in this situation whatever that may be. Ahaziah was looking for healing but because of his appeals to pagan gods he got the opposite. The Representative was trying to be ‘inclusive’ but let’s be honest, Christianity is not inclusive, its exclusive to those who believe in the one true God alone and are faithful to Him. Looking back to the instruction of Christ Jesus in Matthew as quoted earlier, prayers are for God not for recognition or show to impress others. Be careful how you wield words directed toward God.