#7: Treat God with Respect, as the King He really is!
Inspiration tells us, “If we would offer up acceptable prayer,
we should realize that in our petitioning we are in the audience chamber of the
Most High.”[i] In another place it says, “We should come before Him with holy
awe. The angels veil their faces in His presence. The cherubim and the bright
and holy seraphim approach His throne with solemn reverence. How much more
should we, finite, sinful beings, come in a reverent manner before the Lord,
our Maker.”[ii]
A few years back, my friend Pastor Ratsara, president of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, had the privilege of spending a
whole day with the Zulu King in South Africa. Many people desire an
audience with the Zulu King as he’s very powerful and has much influence, but
few get it. However, God opened the door He and a couple teammates from the Division to spend some time together with the Zulu King and as a result, they became good friends. Later, when the King's daughter was married, he was
invited to the wedding. He also later had the privilege of baptizing the King's son into the church.
As they spent this first day together, you can imagine how much he respected the king's time. As he told me, "I wasn’t interrupting our conversation to take a
phone call or to answer a text message someone had sent me. I wasn’t running
off to do this task or that. I stayed in his presence and just enjoyed the day,
talking and getting acquainted."
As a result, this experience has made me do a lot of thinking. If this is
the kind of respect we give earthly dignitaries, why isn’t this the kind of
respect we give our Lord and King of the Universe when we meet with Him?
There’s the story told about John Wesley, who had been invited
to spend an evening with Lord Byron, the most powerful man in England. This was
a great honor, as people would wait months and months to get an audience with
this man. However, before the evening was over, John Wesley got up and began to
excuse himself saying that he needed to leave. Lord Byron was almost offended.
"Why are you leaving when the night is still young” he asked. “Don't you
realize that I am a very important man and many people beg to spend time with
me at my table?"
John Wesley's simple reply was this: "I don't mean to
offend you Sir, and feel very honored for this time together. But I have an
appointment with the King of the Universe now, and I dare not be tired and I
dare not be late."
Talk about a real life example of keeping your priorities
straight. You might be thinking, “Yeah, but it seems there could have been a
little exception there, don’t you think? After all, Wesley was with an
important dignitary, God would surely understand. You could always spend time
with God later.”
Yes…of course, God understands. He understands that we are
weak, frail, and in desperate need of a continual connection with Him – a
connection that will be stronger than any earthly ties and that will be more
important than any earthly honor. He is, after all, the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. Our one desire and allegiance should be to Him, for Him, and for
more of Him.
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