I keep coming across the word “kingmaker.” When Robert Kennedy announced for the presidency in March of 1968, and LBJ saw the handwriting on the wall and announced he would not seek another term, RFK followed noblesse oblige and sought the elder statesman’s blessing. Johnson, never fast friends with the Camelot gang, responded to his nemesis, “I am no kingmaker.”

In current news, Pakistan’s present paroxysm of power, with the incredible shrinking Musharraf walking a tightrope, is a delicate situation for American leadership, which does not want to be perceived as cutting back-room deals to put its own man in the top spot. The New York Times, noting the influence of Pakistan’s military, comments that “Pakistan’s cadre of elite generals, called the corps commanders, have long been kingmakers inside the country.”

That’s nothing. The Almighty laughs. He just whistles and rulers who don’t even love him come running to do His bidding, chastising his people:

“Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants….” (Jer.25:9)

When His people have endured enough punishment He summons another king from the East to turn and bless them:

“[God] says of Cyrus [king of Persia], ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose, saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.”’” (Isa.44:28)

Now that’s a kingmaker.