Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, April 11, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God reigns. Before the Israelites demanded a divinely appointed king, God was their only sovereign authority. The judges were local tribal leaders who had some authority, but it was directly given by God to carry out God’s purposes. (And a lot of those folks were seriously messed up. Come to think of it, so were most of Israel’s mortal kings…)
Lots of people are looking for a single leader or group of leaders to fix all the world’s problems. We put our support behind this or that individual who we perceive will advance our own personal agendas in one way or another, and then we sit back and wait for them to do the work. But here’s the thing. Human leaders will always fail us one way or another. Even Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation ended the enslavement of African Americans, approved the death sentences of 39 Dakota people in the largest one-day mass execution in American history (something I was never taught in school).
There is only one ruler who does not fail. Who is this Ruler of glory? The God of hosts. God is the Ruler of glory.
Who are the leaders I most admire? Does it matter that they’re not perfect?
