Just a Thought… 6 September

The leader we need…

This week sees the appointment of a new Prime Minister, who will lead our country through the looming economic & energy crisis as well as the day to day ‘ordinary’ things of our lives and government policy. It’s an unenviable task in ‘normal’ times, let alone at the moment!

Yet we all know that whatever actions our leaders take or policy changes they implement, governing a country is an extraordinarily difficult, complex and ultimately endless task: next year’s problems will be different and require different solutions. We should pray for the Lord to give her great wisdom, knowing that history teaches us that human governments always end in disappointment. We saw this last Sunday morning in the last chapter (ch13) of Nehemiah’s Old Testament book as it ended with him returning to a rebuilt Jerusalem only to find the people returning to treating the LORD as if He isn’t there or doesn’t matter!

The violent response that Nehemiah implemented ‘fixed’ the problem in the short-term and was echoed 500 years later as the Pharisees oversaw the application of the Old Testament Law by force. Yet clearly the problems Nehemiah found couldn’t be solved by force:  a heart-change was desperately needed in the people. Yet the good news is that the prophet Jeremiah had promised in Jer 31:31-33 that a time was coming when that’s exactly what the LORD would do, sending His Son to be the Saviour.

As the Lord Jesus explained to Pharisee Nicodemus:

“…no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3)

Only Jesus can change hearts like that! No other leader, either political, social or religious can change hearts. Jesus died to make it possible and rose again to give us living hope. JESUS is the ONLY answer!

Spencer Shaw