“Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Esther’s reply: "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.’” - Esther 4:11-16
As Christians, we honor our governing authorities as God’s servants, put in place by Him for our good, and we obey civil law. God has commanded us to do so right up to the point when we can’t obey a human law any more without breaking God’s Law.
There is a time when breaking the law is not only allowed but required; at that point we must, with all due respect, obey God rather than men, and if there are consequences to that disobedience, we bear them for Christ’s sake as a part of the cost of following Jesus. In a country like ours such civil disobedience has rarely been necessary, but it does happen. As our society increasingly turns its back on God’s Word there are going to be more times when we will have to refuse to obey the civil authorities and we will suffer as a result. Because of this, it’s in our own best interest to pray for our authorities and do all we can to see that our government continues to maintain the freedom of religion and freedom of speech that we have enjoyed for the last two hundred years. Lord God, give me a heart of humble respect and appreciation for the governing authorities You have given me, and a heart of steadfast surrender to You as my Lord. Give me the wisdom to discern where the line is to be drawn beyond which I cannot obey human authority and remain faithful to You. Give me a heart ready to stand on Your Word in faith, whatever the consequences, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Pastor Dan Giles
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