Who's in Charge

Proverbs 29:2

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

At the time , the period of time of day is morning and a period of time is night. At the time the Righteous are in control the people rejoice: but at the time the wicked have rule the people morn. In one I see no rules just control in the other there are rules. A RULE is To have power or command; to exercise supreme authority. Sounds like a play on words but one brings joy and another bring mourning grief or sorrow. As I think about this verse, how does it apply to my life? There are fruit that come from both, one has the fruit of joy and the other has the fruit of weeping. One gives while the other takes away. There's no way I can keep weeping out of my life completely and there's no way I have joy every minute. But in this verse there is the AUTHORITY, who I allow to have control in my life. There must be a difference. Until 1973 I had a mixture of both joy and weeping I didn't know the Lord so my joy and sadness was based on what was happening at the time. But something happened in April of 1973 that changed my life for eternity. On that day in April of 73 I willing gave my heart to the Lord; I asked Jesus into my heart asking Him to forgive me of my sins, and He did. On that day I allowed the Righteous God of heaven to come in and I began to see what real joy was. When I allow wickedness to have control I mourned because of the sadness that came because of the rules. I deserve a drink with friends which lead to another and another and now I'm no longer in charge it is now ruling my decisions and those bad decisions brought morning into my life. One bad decision after another soon brought sorry into my marriage not joy. I didn't know nor did I understand why I kept letting the wicked bear rule. When I heard that God loved me and sent His son to die for me to pay a debt I could not pay but owed. I loved Him because He first loved me.

1 John 4:10

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:19

We love him, because he first loved us.

Guess what?  RIGHTEOUS was now in authority and I rejoiced and have been for the last 44 years. Last night it was almost midnight when I got home I had spent 2 hours talking with a young preacher that God sent my way to encourage and help. We rejoiced in the goodness of God and when I opened my eyes this morning after a few hours of rest I was still rejoicing in the Lord. I also knew where I had been and with who I had been with no feeling bad, no head ache, no upset stomach no feeling bad throughout the day none of those things that bring mourning. All because who was in authority?