“When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes.” How apropos in an extremely divided country approaching a debilitatingly divisive election. (At this juncture I won’t get into our responsibility to government. It’s outside of the scope of this verse.) These teachings also apply to governments around the world, for all authority stems from God (Rom. 13.1) From here in Proverbs and Romans 13.3-4 we learn that the point of government is to maintain morality and justice in society. We can judge and measure the extent to which a government is accomplishing its ministry by asking whether it persistently attends to the rewarding of good and evil according to their merits. In Isaiah 1 God condemns the government that exalts self-preservation and the exercise of power over both justice and fairness for all. A government must protect and advocate for the poor, enact righteous policies, and ensure morality in its laws and the enforcement of them. It must punish wrongdoers, repress oppression, and protect its citizenry from acts of greed and power that create injustices.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: Can freedom survive where virtue doesn’t thrive?