Leaving Egypt Ministries, Obadiah D. Morris 

It is popular in our age to treat God as a purely “religious” or “spiritual” matter and to relegate one’s faith to a matter of devotion or private practice. Many God-seeking men have even thought (agreeing with the dominant culture) that they should keep God at home or in the church, rather than to apply His word to every area of their lives. ‘There is a time and place for God’ or ‘don’t bring religion into this’ are common notions. 

This assumption that God offers nothing more than, say, comfort in prayer or soul-saving in the afterlife leaves the door open for the doctrines of men to slip in. If God is just a “spiritual” being who gave us no economic, ethical, or political instruction, men can assume that they are in need of men (i.e., the State) for a host of other things: military, police, lawmaking, public schools, philosophy, economic theory, etc. If God is just for prayer or soul-saving, they can say that while they do believe in and trust God for their salvation, “in this world, at least, we still need the military and police to protect us.” I hear this all the time. They essentially argue that God fails to protect and provide for those who are faithful to Him.

However, God never said He was limited to soul-saving, comfort in prayer, or spiritual matters. God tells us that He offers us nothing less than a complete program for life and social order. Thus, God operates in the areas of protection and law just as much as He does anything else. As one prophet said, 

“The LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us” (Isaiah 33:22).

And as one apostle said, 

“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy” (James 4:12). 

Men who are truly trusting in God for their salvation don’t need a “Supreme Court,” “Congress,” or “President” to protect them; they should rely on God. To seek man-kings as your protectors, and to confine God to spiritual matters, is thus to turn away from God-the-protector. 

God the protector 

God wants us to rely on Him for protection from enemies just as much as anything else. God, not some man calling himself a “president,” is to be our Commander-in-Chief. God, not some people calling themselves the “US Armed Forces,” is to be our army. 

When the Israelites in the scriptures sought a king to protect them, they were turning away from God as their King and thus protector. As God said in this episode, “They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). But they didn’t just want a king for no reason. They wanted a king “that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:20). They did not trust in God to fight their battles. 

In choosing a king, God said, “You have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions” (1 Samuel 10:19). They were expressly trusting in man-kings—the real false gods of the scriptures—for their military protection. As the later part of the narrative makes clear, 

“When you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’ — even though the LORD your God was your king” (1 Samuel 12:12). 

Thus, to turn to kings (statism) to “fight our battles” is explicitly turning away from God as our protector — it is to believe that God does not operate in the area of protection from enemies, too. 

But not only this, as God warned, it will be slavery and plunder rather than true protection (1 Sam. 8:10-18), just as our society is today. And God even mocks people who trust in human god-kings for their protection but ended up enslaved instead:

“Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’?” (Hosea 13:10).

It is impossible for the true man of God to seek protection from States and their armies and police forces. In fact, this political error is one of the precise ways to betray the Lord, who does not permit us to have other lords and kings (Ex. 20:3). Men have to decide who their God is: the true God in heaven, or the false gods of men. For, as David Chilton wrote in his book Paradise Restored,

“A society’s god—whether it be the true God or the self-deified State—demands complete obedience to his lordship” (p. 153).

It is no wonder that the State—a false god—demands that people support it, or that God wants the same of us.

To trust in God or men?

Men who know God through His holy word couldn’t be caught dead trusting in police and military to be their protectors; they would see that they are the very men we need divine protection from. 

This theme of trusting in God for protection is especially abundant throughout the Psalms, showing how much men of God differ from men who cry out to militaries and police to protect them. 

“Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 17:8). 

“He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me” (Psalm 18:17). 

“You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who hated me” (Psalm 18:40). 

“He delivers me from my enemies; Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man” (Psalm 18:48). 

“You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength” (Psalm 31:4). 

“He will recompense the evil to my foes; Destroy them in Your faithfulness” (Psalm 54:5). 

“Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me” (Psalm 59:1). 

“For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy” (Psalm 61:3). 

“Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of those who do iniquity” (Psalm 64:2). 

“The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul” (Psalm 121:7). 

“Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth” (Psalm 124:6).

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me” (Psalm 138:7). 

“Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men, who have purposed to trip up my feet” (Psalm 140:4). 

“Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me, And from the snares of those who do iniquity” (Psalm 141:9). 

“Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You” (Psalm 143:9).

Never once does a Psalmist say (as much of our people do), “Thank you, God, for giving us a state military to protect us” or “God bless our troops.” The Psalms represent a full faith and trust in God for everything. There is no sense whatsoever in these verses that God is good for most things, but that we still need a State to protect us from our enemies. God is our shield and buckler against all enemies, especially those false gods who claim to protect us by robbing us and instituting police state plunder systems over us. 

Avoiding statism

It was no insignificant error that men have turned to States for their protection. This is a great manifestation of man’s sin against God. When God took His people out of Egypt, i.e., the prime example of statist bondage in the scriptures, He told them, “‘You are never to go back that way again” (Deuteronomy 17:16). Turning to States, as evidenced in 1 Samuel 8, is what a Godless people do.

To have trusted the police and military for protection again, which is what all statists have done and always do when they seek a State (even the mythical minarchist state), our people have gone back to Egypt again. And they do so without the counsel of God. 

“They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade” (Isaiah 30:2). 

Indeed, God tells us that trusting in statism, such as the popular American notion that “our military and police keep us safe and free,” is the downfall of a people. 

“Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him” (2 Kings 18:21).

Can the statist who thinks police and military “save” him, when they are nothing but plunderers, truly say, “Thou art my King, O God” (Psalm 44:4)? Can the man who says we need a military for “national defense” say, “the LORD is our defense” (Psalm 89:18)? Can the military and police worshiper say, “God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid” (Isaiah 12:2)? Can the idiot who says “back the blue” really say, “O my God, in You I trust” (Psalm 25:2). 

No, he can’t. He has chosen another god in men and their political systems.