8-2-2024

Good Morning All,

            Psalm 47:7; “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!”

     We have a hymn in our hymnal entitled “Come, Thou Almighty King.” It was written in the 1760’s in England.  The author is unknown but is widely believed to be either Charles or John Wesley.  It was written for a purpose.  The newly written song “God Save Our Gracious King” was making the rounds in England and was very popular.  It was very popular with everyone except the Methodists at the time because it paid way more homage to the king of England than to God.

    During the Revolutionary War, a company of British soldiers went to a church on Long Island and there demanded that “God Save Our Gracious King” be sung.  The tune was the same, but the words sung were “Come, Thou Almighty King.”  So, a great hymn is little more than a protest song.  Yet maybe that is what we need to do; protest a little about phony kings and false gods.

    Now this isn’t a political rallying cry or a statement about our current government.  That is the easy way to look at it but sometimes that leaves us feeling a little too good about ourselves thinking “that sinner over there really needs to hear about it”; in reality we need to look at our own lives first and then see how we fit in.

    This hymn was written in an attempt to state, in a not-so-subtle fashion, that indeed it was God and not the king of England who was the one, true almighty ruler of earth.  While we may all agree with that, do we truly live like that?  Maybe not the king of England but what about our job or the money that we make from that job?  Maybe we like the attention and will do what we have to do to be popular.  Maybe we put things and stuff ahead of God in our life; not the king of England but something else may be king in our lives.

    It can be any one of a hundred things.  It might be money or fame or popularity.  It might be places on the internet that we should really avoid.  It might be someone else’s spouse that makes us wonder.  It might be one or more of many, but they all take us from God.  They all pull us from his grace because we walk away.  We turn to our phony king and begin to trust it for our joy and security.  Yet when we need it the most, it laughs at us and crumbles into dust before us.  Then we are left to twist in the wind and suffer the pains of guilt and fear and loneliness as we suffer a little bit more.

    However, the true King calls us back with those tender words of forgiveness and redemption.   His grace gives us the boldness to ask that the Almighty King come and be our Lord and reign over us.  Keeping us in the benevolent kingdom of his grace until the time is perfected and we are in his kingdom of glory.

Father, you are the King of the world.  Lead us to have you as King in our lives and heart.  Guide us by your Holy Spirit to trust in your promise of love and mercy, salvation, and eternal life.  Through you we have life.  Be with those who seek a different king.  Help them to see the error of this path and bring them safely home we ask.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret