J.R. Briggs
Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep
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What the King of Thailand Taught Me About God
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the idea of God as King. Two weeks ago at Pierced we explored what the implications of God’s Kingship entailed. If we’re honest with ourselves we probably haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about God as King, nor its implications in our lives. We sing about it, read about it, but up until three weeks ago I’d never really looked at it carefully.
Now I can’t stop thinking about it.
There are lots of misconceptions about King (please excuse my deconstruction at the moment). Usually when we thinking about kings we think they either have too little power (like the Queen of England who doesn’t rule England, but is merely a figurehead) or we think of someone with too much power (usually out of greed, lust for power or control or a large ego abusing his subjects under him).
I can think of more bad kings throughout history than I can good ones.
A few musings…
1. We know that God is a powerful King, but I believe we overlook just how radical it is that we serve a caring King. The King of Thailand has been on the throne for 55 years. (Random trivia: he is the currently the longest reigning monarch in the world). When we were in Thailand I saw a great black and white picture from the 50′s of the King when he was younger. During a ceremony honoring him, he stopped, came over and stooped down to show respect and honor to an older woman.
God is a caring God. The Psalms speak of God, the King, meeting the needs of the lowly and the downtrodden, helping the helpless.
I think this picture is one of the most incredible images of what God did for us.
2. Because God is both powerful and caring, he is worthy of our honor and reverence. This is our role as followers of the King: worship.
I need to print this image out and frame it.
Beautiful.
3. I was talking with my friend Brian a few weeks ago and he said something intriguing. Brian, who just retired from the military, said "It is much easier for me to think of God has my president. I choose to serve him voluntarily. But God as my king requires my utmost allegiance, honor and respect, in addition to giving up my complete control to him." Well put.
It’s important to remind ourselves that God is our friend, but he certainly is not our buddy (Therefore, when Ben Affleck wears his "Jesus Is My Homeboy" shirt, I believe this is theologically incorrect).
God is not our mayor. God is not our governor. God is not our president. God is our King who is worthy of being exalted by us and our lives.
And that takes a lot of humility (that oftentimes I don’t have).
I may post more later on other musings of God as King…
Any other thoughts??
John said...
1You’re right…it IS hard to imagine God as our King because we have no context for that. Scripture talks about kings, which was normal in that context, but it takes some extra digging on our part to grasp the significance in our lives.
Good thoughts…
John F.
01/20/05 2:27 PM | Comment Link
Rick said...
2I have been reading “Awareness” by Anthony DeMello and he reminds me of how all metaphors for God are just that. God is like a king, but more. The King metaphor has always been difficult for me because as Americans I don’t think we can understand what it means to live under the total subjugation of another. In a kingdom the peasants have no righrs – no freedom. What is the meaning of a Kingship to members of the new convenant?
01/21/05 5:02 PM | Comment Link
Ryan said...
3Great pictures…where did you find them??
Ryan
01/22/05 2:45 PM | Comment Link
J.R. said...
4RE: Ryan
I didn’t mention it, but my wife Megan and I took a trip to Thailand before christmas to visit missionary friends of ours. Pictures of the king of Thailand were everywhere…sorry I didn’t provide context.
RE: Dad Holman
Good point. Paul tells us that as adopted children that we have rights has children of God. But then again, kingdom subjects do not have rights. Maybe what is meant is that our humility breeds in us a mentality of assuming that we have no rights (even though they have been entrusted to us). I think I am most struck by the humility that comes from being a kingdom subject.
I am not sure this answered your question or not. I appreciate you asking that question though, and stretching me in my thinking about Kingship.
I also find it interesting that God is not just a king, or even THE king, but the King OF kings. That has an entirely new meaning to me…
J.R.
01/22/05 5:14 PM | Comment Link
A Loyalist said...
5Thank you for the pictures and your comments about our king.
He is truly loved by all Thais. We can easily die for him.
I am a Thai Christian. It’s wonderful to have found your site.
May the Lord bless you.
02/14/06 10:37 PM | Comment Link
Tim Edwards said...
6Well said, man.
You don’t know me, but I stumbled upon your site while looking for images of His Majesty the King. I’m an American, living in Thailand, and I’m speaking to a group of high school students today about Jesus being our King and what life is like in His Kingdom. I appreciated your thoughts.
02/28/06 12:28 PM | Comment Link
CAFE.DE.PARIS said...
7By searching things out about our King in google, I found ur page by chance , it was a wonderful chance anyway.
and you know what, this year, 60th year that he has been our King, not only King but also ‘ Father ‘.
=)
03/30/06 5:52 AM | Comment Link
Meew said...
8We love our king so much. He is good and king for his people.I think we can die for him. He is very good person really. I am thai Buddhist
06/4/06 9:45 AM | Comment Link
art said...
9hey, i somehow found your profile
those are ones of the greatest pictures i’ve ever seen in my life
of course i’ve seen them a million times before since i’m thai, but they still make me smile
we love our king like no words can ever explain
and i just felt like sharing the love of thai people to our king
hehe
06/11/06 3:01 PM | Comment Link
another Thai said...
10We love our King.
06/14/06 11:27 PM | Comment Link
MAI said...
11Long Live The King
06/29/06 11:00 AM | Comment Link
Grace said...
12The king is the best person alive!!!!!!!
I am from Thailand and these pictures make me cry
09/17/06 2:30 PM | Comment Link
Guy said...
13J.R.,
My family and I lived in Thailand for 8 years. While I obviously didn’t believe the King was a reincarnation of former kings, I loved living under his rule. I love the respect and love the Thai people have for him. He is a good king and worthy of respect and praise as an earthly king. It was somehow comforting living under the rule of a man who was universally respected by his people. Not only did they all respect him, he seemed to give no reason for anyone NOT to love him. I had numerous chances to be around when members of his extended family would come through our city. It was amazing to watch as people’s respect for the king spilled over onto his family.
Now that I’m no longer under his rule and care, I often draw from my experience there. I never saw him in person but my family and I were directly impacted by him and his impact on his people. The shadow of understanding I have about God as my King was a little more clearly defined from my experience there. I am grateful for the rare opportunity for my family to have lived under the rule or a good earthly king.
Grace,
Guy
02/1/12 2:54 PM | Comment Link