John 19:15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Here, the priests were being honest! In a way it was like the Israelites insisting to Samuel that they wanted a human king, rather than letting God be their King. They were actively rejecting the King of kings, knowing full well that He had declared Himself to be the Son of God. (verse 7) Today, with democracy, people feel they can choose their own “king,” and many are just as vehement as these Jews in rejecting God’s governance. Right now America has a puppet, shadow government, because the titular head is obviously incapacitated by senile dementia. Who is actually pulling the strings is a topic of legitimate debate, but the fact that strings are being pulled is more and more obvious. The only real answer is a return to King Jesus, brought by genuine repentance and a commitment by God’s children to stand up against the tide of evil. When we seek political solutions to the world’s problems we forget that politics is generated by people, so the real issue is human hearts. If we genuinely want God’s name to be honored as holy and His kingdom to come, we’ve got to start with our own hearts. Only then can we be His instruments to draw other hearts to Him so that His will may be done on this earth.

This of course applies to me as much as it does to anyone. I am certainly upset at many things going on in the world, and God assured me personally quite a few years ago that He’s not happy about them either. However, He’s got a plan, and He sees the end from the beginning. I am personally to be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of my life, offering myself as His instrument for however He wants to use me, but not insisting that He use me, either. That last is something I have realized only in recent years. I have been all too prone to insist on how God was to use me, and that hasn’t done me or anyone else any good. It was back in 2010 that God told me to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him. I can’t do that without submission and obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ! I am not to draw back from anything He indicates I am to do, but I am not to dream up things on my own whereby to “fix the world” by my standards. It doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to Him, and I am to trust Him, and myself, to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Right now You’re indicating that we are to get going with a children’s ministry, for the first time in many years. Frankly, that’s pretty anxiety-producing! It will certainly be training in delegation and equipping others, and that’s been a weak area for me. Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, allowing You to use not only me, but also others to do Your will. I believe You are going to bring harvest workers, (Luke 10:2) but You also want to use whose who are already here. Help us all be fully submitted to the Lordship of Christ and filled with Your Spirit, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!