Civil Government Is A Tool

# 128 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 10:8 "You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do." (1 Sam 10:8) This is a pivotal portion of Scripture as it pertains to the reign of Saul. It was his mishandling of these instructions from Samuel that cost him the kingdom. Gilgal was a special place for the Israelites. It was where the people crossed the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua and they had set up twelve stones there as a reminder for each one of the tribes that God had dried up the river Jordan and allowed them to cross over into the promised land. Gilgal was to be a place where Saul could go for special events and during times of national crisis during his reign. It was where Saul was inaugurated as king, (1 Sam 11:14,15) and it was where he went when things heated up with the Philistines. (1Sa 13) It was at Gilgal that Samuel would continue to exercise his priestly duties of interceding on behalf of Saul and the people, and his instructions to Saul were clear. Go to Gilgal and wait for me to carry out my priestly duties. He said, “Surely I will come down to you,” and make the necessary offerings. AND SHOW YOU WHAT TO DO!” Well, if we read ahead in the story we see that Saul didn't wait for Samuel and offered the sacrifices himself. This was a very serious breach of the role of government and the role of the church. Church and civil government have clearly defined roles in Scripture, and we would do well to get a clearer understanding of them. (Read Romans 13) The government is a tool, that God uses for order and sometimes for judgment. But it is never to be used as a substitute for the church. It is the church, using the Word of God, that “shows us what to do.” And if the government ever tells us to do something contrary to God's word, Well, as Peter and the other apostles said in Ac 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men.”