Proverbs 24.21-22
“My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise, for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?”
This proverb admonishes us to respect God, and to also give proper respect to the king. It also admonishes us not to associate with rebellious officials. There are people who disrespect the Lord, and we should not associate with them. There are also people who disrespect government leaders, and we should not associate with them either.
When people don’t fear God, spiritual disaster will surely follow. When people don’t give proper respect to government leaders, social and political disaster will follow.
The challenge that confronts us is what to do when government leaders are corrupt? What should we do when political leaders are immoral and unworthy of respect? First, we must be very careful to use right standards and godly wisdom in our evaluation of leaders. In today’s severely combative political environment, people and pundits are far too quick to condemn leaders with whom they have political differences.
Respectful disagreement and debate are always part of the political process. However, what shouldn’t be part of the process is reckless criticism and manipulative condemnation. The political process in America has become hyper-partisan and seriously degraded, to the point where the pursuit of truth and the implementation of effective, real-world policies has been abandoned in the pursuit of gaining power over political opponents.
Truly corrupt leaders should be removed from office by means of wise, objective, and bi-partisan application of the protocols provided in the Constitution. Those protocols should never be used as tools for attacking a political opponent.
The next passage in Proverbs 24 speaks to the importance of wise, impartial judgment.
“These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good. Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations, but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.” (Proverbs 24.23-25)
Whether personal or political, it is terribly foolish to abandon God’s standards.
