Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge uprightly among men? 2 No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth. 3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies. 4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, 5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be…
9 Before your pots can feel [the heat of] the thorns--whether they be green or dry--the wicked will be swept away. 10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 Then men will say, "Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth."

God has established certain authorities to control our world. It is he who has put in governments and the rules we have. It is he who gave parents in the families. Whatever the authority, from the family up to the highest government we have the responsibility to honor them and show proper respect for the position that God has given them. Before someone says that some official (or even some parent) does not deserve respect or that a certain one opposes God, we need to remember that when Paul said we are to submit to them he was living under a wicked, ruthless and immoral Roman emperor. Just because God has established the authority and has given the leadership to a particular one does not mean that he has given his approval to things that are being done wrong. God does not approve an atheist ruler or a cruel dictator. We may never understand why God allows them to rule but we can know that he has his reasons.

Since God lives in eternity and we are bondage to time we may never see the punishment that God deals out to those who oppose him. We can know for sure that it will come. If not in this life, it will come in the next. My job is to trust God enough to follow his will. While we live in a country that grants us the right to openly object of those with whom we disagree, we must remember to be respectful to those in authority. The example left for us by Jesus was given under a wicked ruler who issued the death sentence against him. Yet, we are told that he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to the one who judges righteously. We must trust God in all things.

O God, I thank you for the privilege of living in a country were I can voice my opinion and even have a vote about who rules over us. I thank you for the freedom of being able to study your word and to live my life according to it without having anyone punish me for doing so. I do pray for those who rule over us that we continue to have this freedom. In Jesus name I pray.

Thanks be to God who does all things well.