Say Please

Proverbs 31:9 (KJV) Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

The first part of this chapter is instructions given to a king.  I would suggest if you are giving directions to a king that you walk carefully.  Kings, especially in ancient times, tended to have total control over your life and your death.  You did not want to make them mad.

With that in mind, it’s interesting here not so much that the king was to judge righteously, but that he had to “plead” the “cause” of the poor and needy.  If you are in authority, your job is not to exercise your authority.  Your responsibility before God is to mold the hearts and minds of those that you are put over.  You are not to Lord over them.  You were to teach, and you were to lead them towards upright living.

So?  Don’t let your power go to your head.  If you’re a parent, it’s not just to be in charge of the house.  It is to mold your family.  If you are an employer, you are not just there to run the business and to make money.  You also have a responsibility to build up of the people put in your care.  Be a king in you’re a little world, a righteous king.