Crestwood Church Blog

“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’ So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared. Isaiah 47:10-12

In the last few days the Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe told his supporters that "only God" could remove him from office.

This could be taken in two ways. One is that he recognises the supreme power of the Almighty God who has infinitely more powerful than a little leader like himself, or secondly that this is a provocative comment to the west and the opposing party led by Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC party leader (Movement for Democratic Change).

As much as I don’t want to be political , I personally believe that this is a statement made to intimidate and rile his opponents . The bigger implication is that he has forgotten who has allowed him to rule for the past 27 years. As much as his comments were meant to belittle the changes that Zimbabwe needs, he is throwing himself into the hands of God himself. Almost daring God to remove him from his office of president.

We live in a fallen world, and we have no real confidence to believe that any other party would eventually be any different from the one that exists now under Mugabe. But our prayer must be that God would raise up a David in that land and stop the troubles and atrocities that are happening in a land which was once the “bread basket of Africa”.

We are reminded that David never once in his own strength sought to remove King Saul from his throne. He knew it was God’s authority and his alone to remove or allow anyone to reign. Our prayer should be that God would intervene and that God would bring about change in that needy land.

If Mugabe continues in the path he has chosen he could easily be like the Babylonians who these verses were originally intended for. If we abuse the power that God has given us, be it in a small way, or right through to being the president of a country, be warned that God will hold you accountable and judge you accordingly for it.

We are reminded not to put our God to the test, because of God so chose, there is no force in the universe that could prevent God from doing what is just and right.

Pray for this land and pray for its leader that he may turn from this foolish path and seek the living God. Pray also for the opposition that if God so choices and bring him into power will rule in a way that honours God and shows compassion to his people.

As much as Zimbabwe is under this dictator we mustn’t forget there is much about our own politics back in the UK which goes totally against the God of the Universe, pray that we may as a nation repent and turn back to God.

Labels: Authority, change, Politics, Repentance

posted by Andy Hodson - Saturday, 21 June 2008, 21:45
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