Abuse of Power – Proverbs 20:7-9

Joseph Michael Arpaio, born June 14, 1932, is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017.  A Federal court monitor was appointed to oversee his office’s operations because of complaints of racial profiling. The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Arpaio oversaw the worst pattern of racial profiling in U.S. history, and subsequently filed suit against him for unlawful discriminatory police conduct. Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office were named as defendants in dozens of civil lawsuits brought by citizens arrested by Arpaio and his deputies alleging wrongful arrest, wrongful death, entrapment and other claims, costing taxpayers in Maricopa County over $140 million in litigation against Arpaio during his tenure as sheriff.  A federal court issued an injunction barring him from conducting further “immigration round-ups” but subsequently found that after the order was issued, Arpaio’s office continued to detain “persons for further investigation without reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or is being committed.” In July 2017, he was convicted of criminal contempt of court, a crime for which he was pardoned by President Donald Trump on August 25, 2017.  (Wikipedia)  Abuse of power is unfortunately all too common in our world.

The righteous who walks in his integrity—blessed are his children after him!  A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.  Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? (Proverbs 20:7–9, ESV)

There have been times when I have chosen the right path despite temptation to do otherwise, because of how I want my children to know me.  We all have people we want to be proud of us, and sinning never makes them proud.  And our righteousness becomes for these people a legacy, both an example to follow that leads to blessing and a standard for how they also want those who come after them to see them.

A particular aspect of righteousness is how we use our power.  The king’s power is absolute and there are gradations of power down the line, a parent’s power or a friend’s power being toward the end of that line.  Power is always given by God to benefit those over whom the power-holder has power.  There is a winnowing or sifting of evil from justice that should take place as the power-holder works for the benefit of others.

But reality must anchor us in dependence on God, because of the reality that none of us is perfectly pure in heart.  We will be tempted to sin and will need, at times, to consider the consequences of sinning in order to pull us from the brink.  We will be tempted to abuse our power and use it for our own benefit.  Unless we wrestle with this reality we are all the more likely to fall.  I think there is another proverb to that effect:  Pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).