Government in Scripture: Psalm 9:15-16
15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
16 YHWH has made himself known, he has executed judgement;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
The judgment of God here is simply to let the nations trip in their own incompetence. Government’s best laid plans always cause harmful, unintended consequences that somehow can only be solved with another government plan.
Politicians call themselves our Benefactors. They think they know how to run our lives better than we do, and they’re going to spend as much of our money as possible to prove it.
But as evidenced by inflation, booming debt, and the pure incompetance of several government programs and agencies, they are continuously sinking into the pit.Instead of trying to climb and escape, they just keep digging. This Psalm suggests that this is simply the just judgment of God.
This is probably most obvious in health care, but can be applied to education and security as well. Our health care industry is sick. Politicians will say that we need to trust them to fix it, but in reality, government has been trying to “fix” health care for over 40 years.
The best laid government plans for health care has artificially raised costs due to the following (although this is certainly not an exhaustive list):
- Excessive regulation. Over half of all written law in the US is in regard to the health industry.
- Limited competition in the insurance industry because of excessive regulation.
- FDA prescription requirements and drug approval delays.
- The protected AMA monopoly over doctor education and licensing that artificially restricts the supply of doctors we have in this country.
And we want government to get even more involved?
Do we really want to go down into the pit with them? Or should we finish the job and help bury the corpse so they can keep they’re decaying hands off of what is important?
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Good article. I appreciate what you’re doing here. The Kingdom of God is the Government of God in Heaven and in Earth. Sometimes we confuse “thy will be done on earth” as us establishing theocracies. Jesus is the literal King of this Kingdom. Yes, He has delegated authority among nations and leaders, but He is looking for a people that will relate to Him directly as King. So a Kingdom subject is someone who whole heartedly trusts in and follows God. How many times does God say to the Old Testament Israelites, “If you had only trusted me instead of yourselves.” How many times did King David stop what he was doing and wait on God to hear the answer to direct his steps.
We have to move from looking at Jesus as a dead constitutional monarchy to a living, active King.
“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
We know that this is not to be interpreted as man made theocracies. Jesus openly rebuked His disciples when they tried to interpret Him as a Messiah that would crush Rome and bring the nation of Israel back to the top of the manheap. Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” The Kingdom, according to Romans 14 is “Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit”. Again, people that are walking in complete trust toward God, looking for His direct guidance in all matters great and small.
Hebrews gives us a warning. Everything in the earth will be shaken, and only the Kingdom will remain:
“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
We will all find out what we are trusting in. It’s not a matter of if, but when. The way we find out is through shaking. A shaking that removes all confidence in man made crutches. We would all be wise to place our faith in God and Christ now. A full surrender and a trust in Him rather than our government. Submit to the government? Yes… but not trust in it. Trust in the One that raises up rulers and lays them low. As you said Matt, the judgement is only the inevitable result of placing our trust in the wrong place.
The Kingdom of God is in very real warfare with the principalities and powers of this world. But we fight our battles by loving our neighbor, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, etc.
Trusting government perverts the very nature of the Kingdom.
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Both cases (the Biblical text and the present day example) are cases of government gone wrong, not proof that government is intrinsically wrong. We need government to check those with race and sex based hate.
Unregulated insurance agency is a bad, bad, bad idea. And while the FDA isn’t managed as well as it could be…its still needed to check the evils of the meat packing plants of the early 1900’s and to maintain the public health and thus the economy.
The FDA will NEVER be managed well. It has the same problem as all government agencies. Screwed up incentives that ensure that the consumer is not put first. The FDA’s policies have probably killed far more people than they have theoretically saved.
Private certifications would do a better job anyway and have better incentives to keep quality up, sharpened by competition. We already have underwriter labs and job certifications that do a better job in their respective industries than the FDA claims do in it’s industry.
I would still say government is wrong. Every action it takes is steeped in violence. It can’t operate apart from violence.
Add that to the fact that God thought the desire for a king in 1 Samuel was comparable to idolatry and showed a supreme lack of faith, I would say that government is hardly desirable.
The power in corporate circles can be equally idolatrous (spelling?)
I don’t think God believes that government power is intrinsically idolotrous, or else he wouldn’t have put so many of his follower in power. In my humble opinion, God’s historical record contravenes your interepretation of the text.
Good discussion…
Corporate power is artificially created by the State. The State gives non-dying entity status to a non-human entity in order to remove the personal responsibility of the owners. Another unforeseen negative consequence of government action.
But at least a business or corporation gets it’s money by the voluntary contributions of it’s customers. Not so with government.
God has also been known to use our foolishness for his own purposes. Plus, he tolerated both slavery and divorce because of the hardness of our hearts. I see government as a similar situation.
But please read 1 Samuel 8. I did a few pieces on the text them here.
And while God has used government to accomplish his purposes, some of his harshest judgments are reserved for those same governments, such as Babylon.