Do you like our political leaders? Jeremiah 27-31

Jeremiah 27:11 (NASBStr)

But the nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,” declares the Lord, “and they will till it and dwell in it.”

There is much talk in our country about political parties and who is right or wrong about government policy.   We live in a country where we can "vote" for the leaders we want.   The majority gets to choose who the want to lead us and subsequently how we will be governed.    Israel didn't have the choice, as Jeremiah is pointing out in this section.   God is telling His people that He is going to send them into captivity and they will be ruled by a very rough king, Nebuchadnezzer, King of Babylon.  Neb., for short, is a man who God put in place and even calls him His servant (27:6).   God is telling them they must submit to the leader he places them in captivity with despite what they think about that leader.   And, this is our key point today:  Submission to the authority that God puts in place equals blessing from God despite the evilness of that authority.  Neb. is not a nice man.  He ruled the earth and was wicked.  But, God uses him to teach His people, Israel, and that is the point God is making in this section.   We may not like the leaders God allows to lead us.   However, they are placed there by God.  We may have a vote in our country and get to "choose" our leaders.  But, we really don't.   God is still in charge.  He puts one up and takes another down.   Notice what God says in the Psalms:

Psalms 75:7

But God is the judge: he puts down one, and sets up another.

God has given us the leaders that we have.   When we fight against them and don't honor that authority it will not be well with us.   Notice what Paul says in Romans:

Romans 13:1-2 (NASBStr)

 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

Paul tells us that if we "oppose" the authority that God set up for us we will bring condemnation upon ourselves.  Bad leadership doesn't mean rebellion, it means bending our knees to God to ask Him to give us the strength to obey the leadership and repenting and asking Him to give us godly leaders.   You can complain about the leaders all you want.  But, maybe they are placed their by God to drive us to pray and to repent.   No matter what, we are to obey the authority God sets up in our life.