The Authority in Our Lives

Open with Prayer

Opening Story:

              It was my fourth year teaching. I had implemented the engagement strategies, and my classroom ran like a well-oiled machine. We had finished our opening review session, and I was in the middle of teaching coordinate graphing when my principal walked in. Walk-throughs were common and this occasion seemed no different than the rest.

I turned to write another example on the board and my lost track of where my principal stood in the classroom. When I shifted, there he was right next to me. He reached his handout signaling for the marker. “Mrs. Adams, if I may.”

What choice did I have? Snatch my hand back and cause a scene? No. I extended my hand toward him and placed the marker into his palm.

“Now students, something Mrs. Adams didn’t show you…” his words disappeared as I stood in shock.

This man. My direct supervisor. He hijacked my lesson. And what he was teaching my students wasn’t even helpful. He embarrassed me in my domain. My classroom. Who does that?

Somehow, I kept my inner dialogue to myself and when he finished twenty minutes later, I smiled and had my class thank him for sharing. I continued my lesson as if nothing had happened, but inside my anger was growing.

On my planning period, I turned off all my lights, locked the door and seethed. If I ever become a principal, I’ll never embarrass a teacher like that. He could have left me a note. How dare he treat me like an idiot.

This inner frustration grew until it boiled. By the end of the day, I talked to a teacher friend, and she agreed it should not have happened that way. “You need to talk to him.”

“But he’s my authority. I can’t talk to him any kind of way. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Pray on it. You’ll know.”

Of course my friend had to remind me to pray. I didn’t want to pray, I wanted to stay mad. I wanted to be right. I wanted him to be wrong.

I wrote in my journal and prayed while the words flowed. By the end of my time with God, I realized the problem: pride. I knew better. I had all the answers. I ran the best classroom. I taught better than anyone else. I didn’t need suggestions. I, I, I.

After confessing my deep, long-lived string of pride, I set up a meeting with my principal. I shared that the way he stepped in and took over my lesson bothered me and that after some soul-searching I realized I didn’t know how to receive constructive criticism. What happened next required a deep work of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I asked him to come back to my class at a scheduled time and teach another lesson on the topic of his choice. Boy did I have to fight my pride on that one. He agreed and a few weeks later came back and taught in such a way that we all gained knowledge.

Pride stands in direct opposition to the authorities in our lives. We think we know better and don’t need anyone to tell us a different way. Pride is protective. Aggressive. Defensive. And destructive. Even when the authority figure doesn’t act in a way we understand or like, God still instructs us to obey the authorities in our lives.

Scripture Reading:

              Hebrews 13:17 (ESV) says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

              Even David, knowing he’d been anointed as Israel’s future king, submitted to the leadership and authority of King Saul who sought to kill David. Read 1 Samuel 24:3-12 (NIV), He [Saul] came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. 

Discussion

1.      Do you struggle to submit to the authorities in your life? Why or why not?

2.      How was David able to refrain from attacking/killing Saul in the cave?

3.      Would David have been justified if he had taken Saul’s life in the cave? Explain.

4.      What if the authorities are corrupt, like Saul? How do we submit then?

5.      What is the purpose of authority?

Homework

              Read 1 Samuel 26. David is once again given an opportunity to take Saul’s life and yet he refuses. What if David had given in and killed King Saul? How would that have changed history, his kingship, and his reputation among the people?

Personal Reflection

              Take time this week and reflect on the different seasons in your life. Childhood, teen years, college days, young adulthood, and beyond.  How did you respond to the authorities in your life during each of those time periods? Why? How should it look?