To Encourage You

2 Samuel 11:8 “So David sent word to Joab, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.’ And Joab sent Uriah to David.”

With great authority comes great responsibility.  Both are God-given things. Thus, our ultimate responsibility for any authority God has given us is to Him.  That applies to us if we are a parent, an employer, a teacher, or in any other role in which we might find ourselves.  Obviously, it also applies to kings and other governmental leaders.  We all know how such leaders have used their authority for evil means.  We see it today as our leaders encourage by their actions the murder of unborn babies or other injustices of every sort.  It’s been that way throughout history, including, tragically, in many of the men who were anointed by God as Israel’s kings.

One such man was King David. In the verse above we see him using his authority to enlist the commander of his army to bring ruin to the life of Uriah. David had committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and made her pregnant, so he enlisted Joab in an elaborate plot to hide his sin by sending Uriah home from the field of battle to encourage him to lie with his wife. When that didn’t work, David used his authority to send Uriah back into the fighting with the command to Joab to put Uriah into the thick of the battle and withdraw from him so he would be killed. It was murder by the hand of David, all facilitated by those whom David ruled. 

What a contrast this is to the One Who has the greatest authority in all the universe, the Son of David, the King of kings.  In Matthew 28:18 Jesus told his disciples (which includes you and me if we are believers), “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  It is because of this authority that Jesus has the right to tell anyone what to do.  And he also has the authority to make sure that we do it, for He’s the ultimate lawgiver, king, and judge. 

So, what does He do with that authority? What does He call for us to do? We see this in the verses immediately following Matthew 28:18 where He says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Isn’t it so awesome that Jesus has used His authority to call us to join Him in His mission to save the world?  In contrast to King David, who used his authority to facilitate an act of murder, Jesus uses his authority to call us alongside Him in a mission to bring life.   And Jesus doesn’t just send us out like David did, on our own, to accomplish his dirty deeds. No, Jesus has promised to be right there with us, helping us every step of the way.

Praise God that we serve the One known as “the King of Righteousness” and also as “the King of Peace” (Hebrews 7:2). Praise God that we are sent into all the world to preach the greatest story ever told, and that we have been given the privilege of working alongside the King Who has come not to bring death but to die and thereby give His abundant life to the world.