Queen for a Day

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." 

-- Isaiah 43:19 

    

Have you ever contemplated some of the great problems of the world...and then decided how you'd fix them right away if you could somehow become the king or queen? 

Back in the 1950's and 60's, there was a popular TV show called Queen for a Day that's considered a forerunner of today's reality television genre. Every episode, viewers could count on host Jack Bailey's heartfelt interviews with three or four female contestants about their troubled lives and families. The would-be queens typically requested medical care for a child or a lifestyle-changing appliance like a refrigerator or washing machine. And it wasn't unusual to see at least one of the women burst into tears in front of the live studio audience.

An applause meter determined each week's winner, who was adorned with a red velvet robe and jeweled crown as she proceeded to an upholstered throne--and all while Pomp and Circumstance played in the background. As Queen for a Day, her prizes usually included the help she requested during her interview with Jack Bailey. She might also receive vacations, appliances and clothing donated by the sponsor companies (much like today's product placements).

Winning an over-the-top game show is one way to solve some of life's problems. But a truth that we find in the Old Testament's Book of Isaiah is that God's ways aren't our ways. All too often, our nearsighted choices result in our actually choosing against Him. We want to create our own options rather than obeying our Creator. What's more, we tend to seek power for ourselves rather than blessing others. And we can become ensnared in life's circumstances rather than waiting on His salvation.

Again and again, we also see through Scripture that God often carries out His will by doing what's completely unexpected--and then choosing the most unqualified people as His agents. Why does He do things this way? The short answer is that HE CAN. Accomplishing the impossible by using the unlikely demonstrates His power and omniscience. After all, if we could always save ourselves and solve our own problems, we'd soon believe that we don't need a Savior.

Of course, we all DO need a Savior--even when life seems to be going fine. And this leads us to the BIG question: Whether your life is good or it's falling apart, are you trying to handle things by being your own Queen (or King) for a Day? What's far better is to live by Jesus' simple words in Luke 22 as He prayed to His Father--the one and only real King--about what lay ahead at the cross:

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me," Christ asked. "Yet not my will, but yours be done."