Heavenly Father
The desire for a king to protect us and tell us what to do in a crisis—a king like the nations, a leader like the business world—is so deeply ingrained in us. Even when we see it, we don’t really want it any other way until the ‘king’ becomes intolerably abusive. Even then, we put up with him or her just so long as the abuse is directed towards others and not us. We ignore any neglect or cruelty, empire-building or wealth-hoarding. We allow him or her to usurp Your place in our lives.
We confess that this unholy desire is so entrenched we overlook Your warning about the nature of kings and we fail to notice how it applies to David. We idealise and idolise him and constantly remind ourselves that he was a man after Your own heart when, in truth, He did not end well. He was corrupted by power. Still we discount the evidence of that and, with him as our role model, we mentally squeeze our own favourite leaders, including ourselves, into a glamourised ‘David’ mould and give them unbridled adulation. We look for a king other than Jesus.
Father, we confess no one is good, except You alone, and we repent of inviting our leaders to ascend the throne only You should occupy, and of offering them the trust that should only ever be given to You. We repent of allowing them to be our covering and so giving them the right to be our mediator with You—a right that belongs only and uniquely to Jesus. We have let our leaders come between us and His atonement, agreeing to the usurpation of His place as High Priest in our lives. We have rejected Jesus as both King and Priest. We have rejected Him as our cornerstone, our covering, our head, allowing Him only a role as Saviour but not Lord, as Servant but not Servant-King.
Jesus, Saviour and Lord, take up Your throne in us and empower our words of repentance through Your blood and Your Cross. Forgive us for seeking a king, a covering, an atonement other than You. Grant us the gift of courage to choose You as our only King—and to submit to You as the Lord of all that is in heaven and on earth. Loose us from the mind control that blinds us to our idolisation of leaders—be they self or others—and cause us to be remade in Your image and to serve each other in love and truth.
This we ask in Your name, the blessed and precious name of Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.
