Cursing God

569 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 2Sa 16:5-7, Now when King David came to Bahurim, there was a man from the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei the son of Gera, coming from there. He came out, cursing continuously as he came. 6 And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. 7 Also Shimei said thus when he cursed: "Come out! Come out! You bloodthirsty man, you rogue! Shimei was very bitter about the slayings of Abner and Ishbosheth, and uses this opportunity to come out and curse the king. This cursing of the king, (our rulers both ecclesiastical and civil) is not taken lightly by God. Ex 22:28 says, "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.” Do you understand what is being said here? You curse your ruler and you are reviling or cursing God! That's the essence of Ro 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Curse the ruler, you curse the One who put him there. In Ec 10:20 we read, “Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.” I don't want to get overly “spooky” here but these birds symbolically spoken of are spirit beings, demons, that are agents of the devil, and he will somehow use that cursing as a wedge to further his cause. Stop providing ammo to the evil one. Stop reviling our rulers! Stop cursing God! This concern about cursing rulers is not just an Old Testament thing either. When Paul was brought before Ananias he spoke a curse against him, and “those who stood by said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" Then Paul said, "I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'" (Acts 23:4,5)As I read the revilings on Facebook about our president and other leaders, and listen to Christian talk radio, I am amazed by the number of professing Christians who ignore these words in Scripture and are cursing the very God whom they claim to serve. Listen to God's promise to those who do not revile their leaders: Ex 23:22 "But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. Do you want to fight with your puny revilings, or do you want the God of the universe to fight for your cause? Father forgive us of this grievous sin, and grant us understanding in the area of respecting authority.