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FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY

Topic: Right in Our Own Eyes

The Invisible King

by Darrel Cline
(darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)

I am an observer. I watch people. I watch the news. I watch trends in the way people live. I watch T.V. I watch football games. I watch the time. I watch people make decisions. I watch what happens from those decisions. And I watch the blame game that follows when the decision did not lead to the result that was sought.

One of the things I have noted as a watcher is that we have come almost full circle from the days of the judges of Israel: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25; NASB).

These are interesting words because Israel had entered into a covenant relationship with God some years before. In that covenant, God was to be the King, and Israel was to be His loyal people. God never gave up His identity as the King. So, in those days there was a king in Israel, He was simply invisible. But because people trust their eyes, they determined that He did not exist. So, since, in their minds, God did not exist as an authoritative King, when they had a decision to make, they simply did what was right in their own eyes.

Today, God is still invisible. People still trust their eyes. And people are again deciding what to do based upon what they think is right. But since we have come full circle from those ancient days, we need to be aware that doing what is right in our own eyes is not the only thing that has come full circle. We live in a cause-and-effect universe. That means doing always leads to results. This is one law no one can escape. For every action there is a guaranteed reaction.

So, we need to be aware that doing what is right in our own eyes will bring the same kinds of results that it did years ago when the nation of Israel first tried living that way.

One of the things that happened in those ancient days was that the quality of people's relationships with each other descended the stairs of chaos. The longer people did what was right in their own eyes, the more chaotic became the relationships that they lived with. There is a good reason for this: no two people see things exactly the same way--unless they both have submitted their point of view to the same outside standard. So, since the standard in that case was their own point of view, when decision time came, that was done which was determined by the most powerful of the people involved in the decision. And since people always rebel against forced compliance to the decisions of others, relationships fell apart.

Because we have come full circle, we too shall see more conflict in human relationships. Marital conflicts. Race conflicts. Education conflicts. Community conflicts. Political conflicts. Religious conflicts. Financial conflicts. Family conflicts. National conflicts. International conflicts.

And because conflict is the chief mechanism of decay and death, the more conflicts we have, the more our lives will become less and less fulfilling.

Folks, we are doing this to ourselves. We are doing what is right in our own eyes and ignoring the Invisible King Who made us.


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This is article #001.
If you wish, you may contact Darrel as darrelcline at this site.