Zephaniah 3:1-3 “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.”
Zephaniah 3:6 “I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.”
The next reason to pray for our leaders is a very practical one. Our leaders have a significant impact on our lives and their conduct influences us in substantial and tangible ways. The extremes of this leadership dipole are starkly contrasted in I Timothy 2 (see the All in Authority post from July 27th) and in Zephaniah 3. Through leadership, we can lead “quiet and peaceable” lives or we can have our streets made waste and our cities destroyed. We can be characterized by “godliness and honesty” or we can be “filthy and polluted.” God can consider us “good and acceptable” or He can extend to us the sorrowful salutation “Woe to her.”
In a sermon entitled “Intercession, Every Christian’s Duty” George Whitefield provided a wonderful and succinct summary of this line of thinking:
“Next to the praying for all men, we should, according to St. Paul’s rule, pray for Kings; particularly for our present sovereign King George, and all that are put in authority under him; that we may lead quiet lives, in all godliness and honesty. For, if we consider how heavy the burden of government is, and how much the welfare of any people depends on the zeal and godly conversation of those that have the rule over them … we shall not only pity, but pray for them”
PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN LEADERS TO BE FILLED WITH ZEAL AND GODLY CONVERSATION. Our welfare depends upon it.
