Leaders and Politicians - Isaiah 40-44

 Isaiah 40:21-23 (ESV)

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Politicians and Leaders

We live in a world where mankind thinks they can control and determine their own fate.   This was true in the past, it is true in the present and will be true in the future.   We believe we have systems that we control that puts politicians and leaders in the places we want, when we want them.   From the employer who creates a new job posting to the greatest nation in the world who creates a new cabinet position, we believe OUR choices determine man’s positions.   We certainly do have some form of free will that God enables.  Yet, when we read the above verses from the prophet Isaiah we are challenged by another truth.  We learn God’s truth about positions and power.  God determines them and extinguishes them, at His pleasure.   Maybe Isaiah was thinking of this psalm when he wrote the above words: 

Psalms 75:7 (ESV)

7 but it is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another.

Maybe he had already heard what the early captive, Daniel, would write:

Daniel 2:21-22 (ESV)

21 He changes times and seasons;

he removes kings and sets up kings;

he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding;

22 he reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him.

Maybe God gave Isaiah insight into what Jesus would say centuries later to the religious leaders who opposed Him:

John 19:11 (ESV)

11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

God is the one who brings princes to nothing and makes ruler of the earth as emptiness.  He replaces one with the other.  If we have a place of leadership and authority, it matters not our belief of how we think we are in that place.  It is God who put us there.