Touch Not the Lord’s Anointed!
I heard one of my least favourite Bible verses again last week. It’s not a ‘bad’ verse - no Scripture is bad if it is interpreted rightly. It’s just one of those verses that tends to be interpreted very badly and very destructively. I don’t ever remember hearing a proper sermon or bible study on it. But I have heard it invoked several times in situations where a church has fallen into some sad degree of disunity or a leader is facing accusations of misconduct. You may have heard it yourself. It looks something like this. There is a difficult meeting. The pastor is facing criticism. The congregation are divided in their assessment of the situation. And then one of the pastor’s closest supporters drops the bomb: “ Touch not the Lord’s anointed! ” The message is clear. This man is God’s man. No disagreement is permitted. No possibility of serious fault can be countenanced. Discontent ends right now. It’s really quite an odd concept to appeal to in such circumstances. The fi...