I keep going back to this idea of king and of kingdom. How can I not when reading about David? In 2 Samuel 3 we see two kingdoms – Judah and Israel. We see two commanders of fighting men for those two kingdoms. We see multiple wives and concubines. We see jealousy and grasping for power and for revenge. Abner, commander of the army of Israel, is thwarted in his quest for control and so he turns to David and pledges loyalty to David. v. 18. David is pleased. He accepts Abner and his delegation of men and prepares a feast for them. When Joab, David’s commander of his fighting men, returns from a raid of Judah’s enemies, he is not pleased. Unknown to David, he then kills Abner because Abner had killed his brother. He took matters into his own hands just as Abner had in leaving Israel’s king for David. David is distraught and calls for harm to not only Joab but to his succeeding generations. Kingdoms of men.

What about us today? Nations today are ruled by all manner of constructs. We know from reading history the danger people have endured throughout all the history of mankind. The dangers we face today are unique to our time and no less real.

Peter was teaching the early gathering of God’s people, who were in danger from Rome and from the religious established authorities, who they were in reality. They were no longer citizens of Rome in the sense of where their loyalties lay. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10. Does he call for rebellion against the authorities of Rome? No. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:11-12.

Desires that wage war against your soul. Does that not sum up the history of mankind and its kingdoms?

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14-15. The good news of God. His Kingdom is near.

When you ask God to come into your life and help you, you will begin a walk toward understanding God more and more. There is no intrigue here, no grasping for power. At first it’s hard to trust what is so different from what we know by experience. Do you want to know God? He’s here. He’s patient. He is loving and His ways are not our ways but our hearts recognize love when we experience it in Him. My walk with Him has spanned my whole life but I have never been more aware of His Presence than now. The time has come…the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! He will bring us out of darkness and into His wonderful light. We can experience that with Him today even in the midst of the kingdoms of this world so determined to live apart from Him.