May 3

Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1

In those days Israel had no king

A king is a sovereign ruler, usually over a land or a group of people, or both.  In chess, the king is the most important piece in the game.  Lose the king, you lose the game. So what happens when there is no king over the land?  Better yet, what happens when you have crowned yourself king or lord in this game we call life?  I found it interesting that "in those days Israel had no king" was used three times as a lead sentence.  Must be an important point.  We see in our reading how without a king idolatry began in the family of Micah.  That spread to the tribe of the Danites.  We start to see that furnishing ourselves with our own gods brings about spiritual confusion and leads to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.  Let's just touch on that a second and look back on a few biblical examples of what happened when things were done according to what was right in someone's own eyes.  It seemed right in the eyes of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, even though God said it was wrong.  It also seemed right in the eyes of Jacob to sell Joseph to slavery, even though God said it was wrong.  David thought it was right to commit adultery and murder, even though God said it was wrong. Maybe someone is reading this who needs to have a King over their lives because like the Israelites, there are other gods in the way, or it seems right to do life through your own eyes.  The good news is that King Jesus left His throne in heaven, came and taught us how to live, and gives us an opportunity to make Him King and Lord over our lives.  In doing this, all the mistakes we've made when we thought "it was right in our eyes", get covered in the blood poured out at Calvary.  There is a King.  His name is Jesus.  He is Sovereign and the most important piece in the game.  He loves us, and when we allow Him to Lord over our lives, we walk in His victory and win at this game called life.

Randi