Give Us a King!

​The old prophet Samuel’s sons were wicked, and the elders of Israel were not about to have them lead the nation. So, they visited Samuel at his home in Ramah and demanded he appoint a king to be their judge and leader, just like all the surrounding nations (1 Samuel 8:4,5). 

Meditation
1 Samuel 8:6--When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the Lord.
 
Their request was sensible. No people want to be governed by corrupt officials.  If all the other heads of state were kings, it surely felt odd to Israel to be led by prophets. Why not have a representative commensurate with the rest of the world? What they were asking was foreknown by God, who gave Moses instructions in Deuteronomy 17 hundreds of years before Samuel existed about how to go about selecting a king and rules for how he should govern.  So why did Samuel consider their entreaty sinful?  

God told Samuel, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king” (8:7). They were following a consistent pattern from the time they left Egypt of abandoning God to worship idols. They were rebellious. When Samuel died, God could have raised another prophet to lead His people and not Samuel’s sons. But they did not want His prophets leading them; they wanted their representative to be in charge. So God gave them exactly what they yearned for—Saul, a handsome, tall young man from the tiny tribe of Benjamin (10:1). 

Beware of sensible requests. Lurking beneath what seems natural is often unnatural. Oswald Chambers warned, “Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent; it came from the pit, no matter how beautiful it sounds . . . Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us.”[1]

God calls John* to minister to youth. He chooses instead to go into counseling because that’s where the money is.  It makes more sense to have a good job so he can bless his family.  Ginger has a great voice, so she moves to Nashville to pursue music—that, after all, is her gift.  She resists the Holy Spirit’s leading to go to Spain as a missionary because she and her parents think that would be too risky a venture. In their hearts, John and Ginger believe they know better than their Maker what’s good for them.  Give us a king!  Let us have what we want.  

Ask the King what He wants and act accordingly.  Something to think about . . . in reveration.
 
Inspiration
We have to get at what Jesus Christ taught was the highest good, then we can understand why He did not accept the standard of life that we accept, and why He plays havoc with all our lesser “goods” until we get to the supreme good He had in mind.—Oswald Chambers in The Highest Good

*Not their real names.

©2022 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)
 
[1] My Utmost For His Highest