day no. 16,375: kings will always come for your kids

1 Samuel 8:10-11

So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.”

Kings will always come for your kids.

They will enlist them in their service and see them as their resources. This obviously includes military endeavors but don’t miss that it also means civilian endeavors. The king wants our kids to be his soldiers, but also his citizens; but whatever they are, he wants them to be his and at his disposal. The State wants to do away with lesser magistrates and spheres of authority. It resents sheriffs and parents who have sway in their respective spheres.

"From Caesar to Dewey, from Nebuchadnezzar to Mann, those who have given ultimate authority to the state have consistently coveted other people's children." — Douglas Wilson, Excused Absence

It is not that the State opposes parenting, don’t take that bait; they have no problem with parenting, it is simply that the State desires to be the one running for parent unopposed. The State knows your kids need a dad. That's why they're so eager to get other dads out of their way. The State knows your kids need a mom. That's why they're so eager to get other moms out of their way. They rid the land of dads by incentiviizing abortion, divorce, and welfare. They rid the land of moms by incentivizing daycare, healthcare, State insurance, and getting more women into upper eduction, out of the home, and into the permanent workforce. 

"Statism results from people seeking to be pagan in their modes and methods of governing themselves -- that we also may be like all the nations (1 Sam. 8:19-22). When they take this route, the state always and immediately assumes parental responsibility for children." -- Douglas Wilson, Excused Absence

There will be parenting, it is inescapable. The State knows that far too many Christians are asleep to this fact. They're hoping to catch you off guard and nap your kids while you're daydreaming. Don't sleep on the State. Don't hire it as a Nanny. It doesn't want to watch your kids for you, it wants to woo them away from you. It even has the audacity to coerce you into thanking them for the privilege of being bereft.

Whether it is Pharaoh trying to drown them, Saul trying to enlist them, Nebuchadnezzar trying to re-educate them, Herod trying to slay them, or Caesar trying to enroll them. Kings always come for the kids.