Day 178: Fair play

Today's Reading: 1 Kings 20-21

Early in childhood, children are able to distinguish what is fair and what is not, especially if the situation is objective, one they can determine from the outside. They can very well distinguish if something is not fair if it involves a slight to themselves.

In kindergarten, we are taught to share, keep our hands off of other people's property and not to grab all the cookies for ourselves. But it seems these lessons take a lifetime to learn.

We can readily discern when we have been cheated or slighted; but have a very hard time discerning when we are grabbing more than our share or trespassing into another's property, space or authority.

Ahab, green with envy, and longing for what was not his, throws a temper tantrum, over steps his power boundary and out and out steals from another. Ahab not only steals property, but life and future inheritance from Naboth.

How is it that the king, the one who is to lead the people, the one who is to have the people's best interest at heart, the one who is to be the brightest and the most gifted, the one who access to all the resources is the very one who has not learned a basic elementary lesson.

Here is a warning to all leaders. Learn the basics of fair play before you think you are ready to rule over anyone. Power is to be used for the people, not against the people.

Ahab, you are a bad king. You are not playing fair.

Go back to Kindergarten, the beginning, and learn the basic lessons.