Our meditation for the next two days shall be on the inherent danger in ridiculing a leader or an authority figure.
Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. – 1 Timothy 2:1-3
There are times life happens to us without any immediate trace to what we have done wrong on the surface. The truth is life does not just happen unless certain edges are broken. One of those edges are spiritual laws and fundamental principles that we break that we may not categorize as sin, because they do not seem sinful. Ridiculing a leader or an authority figure is one of them.
We will give some instances in the Bible. Noah became drunk and sprawled on the floor naked (a bad example of fatherhood one might say). His son, Ham, saw the distasteful sight and went to joke about it to his other siblings. However, they behaved in a more mature way; they did not laugh. Instead, they walked backward and used clothes to cover their father’s nakedness without looking at him. When Noah woke up, he cursed Ham, his jocular son, and the other two sons he blessed.
Secondly, an example of organizational authority, Sarah asked her husband to sleep with her maid so they could have a child through her. The maid became pregnant and started to behave rudely towards her mistress because she now had what her mistress could not have. In annoyance, Sarah asked her husband, Abraham, to send the rude maiden away, even in her pregnant state. Initially, Abraham who must have been very excited at the thought of fathering a child through the maid, did not want to do as his wife requested. However, God told Abraham to listen to his wife. So, they sent the lady packing out of their house and straight into the wilderness.
While alone in the woods and weeping, an angel of God came to her and asked what was wrong. You can imagine what she must have told the angel about her bosses. But the angel of God only gave her a blunt instruction as the solution to her problem. He said, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” Period.
In other words, the lady was told to go and apologize to Sarah, her mistress, and to submit to her. God was not going to side with her in her pity story, even in her vulnerable state, because He knew better. That was an example of work-related authority.
To be continued…
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