Throughout civilization, systems have been devised to control and care for people. These systems have been based on a wide range of political ideologies, personal ambition and demagoguery, tribal and communal traditions, and religious movements. These forces have spawned governments that run the gamut from representative democracies to personal dictatorships. A good deal of human history seems to be the story of both the collisions and the harmonious relations of these governments.
If much of this history can be regarded as a human search for a more perfect form of governance, we can contribute to the solution by developing a deep understanding of and reliance on God's government. His government is perfect, unerring, always just. It had no birth—in bloodshed or in any other human effort—and it does not breathe a fragile existence. It is eternal and always developing. It is strong and beneficent. The prophet Isaiah spoke of its establishment on earth when he said, "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." Isa. 9:7.
The Bible not only contains the statement of God's law and government, it relates countless stories of the struggle to follow in strict adherence to this law. But the Bible is more than just a recounting of the attempts of men and women to interpret God's government; its passages reach deep into the truth of our being. Jeremiah provides insight when he writes: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; ... I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." Jer. 31:33.
