Thread by @GPrater85015

#GeraldsDevotional
A Stake in the Ground – Scorched Earth and 3 Kings

When we started this series about a stake in the ground, I told you after that night that there was so much to be told that if I were to write it all in a single devotional it would be contained in several books. I also introduced a key component of the theme as being the

scorched earth strategy. Our real enemy will spare no cost to achieve his objective of death, destruction, suffering and despair. All of these things are the opposite of God’s desires and promises for all of us. The LORD has made a way for each one of us to receive the keys to

the Kingdom and says that we are more than conquerors through Him (we are very powerful).

But the enemy spares no cost in stealing (actually getting us to give up and hand over) that power. He uses lies, smoke and mirrors and strong manipulation to bring about destruction and to

get us to willingly give away God’s blessings and things that should be obviously very valuable and precious to us.

Over the past several years there has been a constant parade of experts and distinguished advisers who have been brought in front of America’s people using

deception and lies to convince us to reject the abundant blessings and protection that the LORD has showered upon us. These advisers have consistently cloaked themselves behind titles of high nobility and distinction to give the appearance that they are “experts” who have the

best interest of our kingdom (country) at heart. But the true motivations of so many of these people have been clouded in doubt and we still wait to find out the results of all that was actually at work behind the scenes in struggles for power.

Today’s devotional is a summary

and comparison from the bible about 3 kings who suffered similar circumstances. In all 3 cases, these were kings that God had elevated and placed in position for very special purposes. They were also all not Jewish. These kings were Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Darius the Mede, and

Xerxes of the Persian Empire. All 3 of these kings were raised to their positions by God for various purposes according to His plan. They were all given horrible advice by high-ranking advisers who had nefarious motivations that went against the desires of the king. The advisers

used deception to trick the kings into issuing laws that they really didn’t want to.

In the first case, Nebuchadnezzar was tricked into issuing a law that apparently condemned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be killed in the fiery furnace. Now granted, this king had a real

problem with his own pride and fits of anger (before you jump out there with a finger pointing at someone, remember that we all suffer with this problem). At the end of Daniel chapter 2, this king had just finished praising God and elevated Daniel and his 3 friends to very senior

positions in the kingdom over his other pagan advisers. Then in the next verse he built this golden statue representing his kingdom and demanded that it be worshiped. It was those same pagan advisers who went to the king and snitched on the 3 Jewish boys, manipulating his rage

and convincing him to kill the 3 boys (Daniel 3:8-12). In the end, when the king saw the image of the LORD in the fire and the boys came out unharmed, he was once again praising the LORD. He had been manipulated by advisers with evil intent who played on his own pride.

Later in Daniel 6, King Darius is in a similar situation with Daniel. Darius was not as unstable as Nebuchadnezzar, but he still allowed himself to be manipulated by high advisers who had evil intent. They convinced him to pass a law requiring that he be worshiped. The law was a

trap to kill Daniel and when the king found out about Daniel, he deeply regretted passing that law (he had been deceived and manipulated).

The last example of a king in this same situation is King Xerxes in the book of Esther. The king was very happy with Mordecai the Jew. But

the evil Haman developed a plot (Esther 3) and manipulated the king to pass a law to have Mordecai (indeed ALL of the Jews) killed. After being manipulated (again through his pride), the king later deeply regretted having passed this law and sought a way to correct it.

The purpose behind these stories of these three kings is to illustrate the following key points:

1) God was in control at every moment, raising up and removing kings (Daniel 2:21)
2) None of these 3 kings were perfect, they all suffered from varying degrees of pride
3) God still

used each one of them to carry out His plan
4) Satan was also always there trying at any cost to disrupt God’s plan, using lies and manipulation
5) God always won in the end and as for the agents of Satan in each case, well, read the stories. (scorched earth)

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