We Want a King
There is an amazing story recorded in 1 Samuel. After all the miraculous things that the Lord did in delivering Israel from Egypt, they decided they would rather be ruled by a flesh and blood king than be subject to the oversight and protection of Almighty God. On the surface, this looks like a foolish choice by our ancient ancestors in the faith. However, upon deeper reflection we can see their motivations weren’t all that so unlike those of our own. Let’s take a deeper dive into this tale and see what we can discover.
We find this story recorded in 1 Samuel 8 with additional insights in Psalm 106. From the beginning we can detect a number of seemingly superfluous motivations for their request. These reasons would include the following: Samuel’s advanced age, the corruption of his sons, their dissatisfaction under current leadership, and their desire to adopt the values of the world. We also see in Psalm 106 that they were unwilling to wait for the counsel of the Lord. Hiding here, within what we might consider meaningless motivations for setting God aside, are classic behaviors we could be found guilty of every day.
One of the first things I see in this account is the dissatisfaction of the people with the way things appeared to be going. I am looking at these motivations with respect to how one might judge the so-called performance of God. We can pray about certain things but then develop our own expectations for what we believe the results should be. If our idea for answered prayer isn’t realized, we could become impatient, upset, and end up setting the counsel of God aside. I think it is fairly common to take things to the Lord in prayer having already predetermined what the answer should be. This is not only a dangerous practice but it is dishonoring to God as well as demonstrating a lack of faith.
Something that is often difficult to cope with is recognizing and accepting the will of God through others. I think we particularly struggle with this when the Lord speaks to us or directs us through someone for whom we lack respect. It is at times like this that we fail to grasp the fact that others are simply somewhere in their maturation process. They may not be where we think they should be, but the Lord is still working in their lives. What you hear from God may come through others surreptitiously and indirectly. The Lord could be speaking to us through the actions or behavior of others or even when they are speaking to someone else.
We always have to be on our guard to avoid enthroning “self” on the throne of our life. By ignoring the counsel of the Lord, we would in effect be declaring ourselves king. In doing this, we may appear to be getting our way in whatever issue is at hand. But in the long run we would be forfeiting the Lord’s best for our lives. Scripture shows us that God allowed the Israelites to have their own way but he sent leanness into their soul. The NIV renders the same passage this way: “So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.” It is somewhat difficult for us to fathom that when we ignore, or neglect to search out, or simply oppose the counsel of the Lord, we are in fact enthroning ourselves as king of our lives. The wisdom and counsel of God are available and accessible to all who would make a relationship with Jesus Christ a priority in their lives.
The elders of Israel, after meeting together, told Samuel, “You are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” We might refer to this as the “symbiosis factor.” Sometimes this concept is described as, “Birds of a feather flock together.” This seems to be a fairly common trait in humans. We generally like to associate with people who think, look, talk, believe, and behave such as ourselves. Israel was already set apart and different as a people in that they worshipped a deity for whom there was no graven image. On top of this they had no sovereign leader distinguished by royalty. They would have been viewed by those outside their nation as a disjointed collection of leaderless nomads. Outsiders would have no understanding of their family, clan, and tribal integrity as well as their covenant with God based in the law.
Israel’s faithfulness to God was very much predicated and dependent on their commitment to the oral tradition commanded by God.
And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts on your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9 NLT).
The oral tradition was the only way Israel could ensure future generations would come to know and worship the one and only true God. This was an incredibly significant tradition and is just as important for Christians today. Unfortunately, there seems to be an unwritten myth that religion is personal and private and should be kept to oneself. You may have heard the old adage about avoiding the discussion of religion and politics in polite company in order to prevent conflict and social awkwardness. What a blessing that believers in the first century weren’t harnessed by such spiritually debilitating nonsense.
Accepting and indulging in the idolatrous behavior of the surrounding nations spiritually crippled the people of Israel repeatedly. It ultimately led to their demand for a king and the subsequent adoption of false gods. The entire issue of substituting another “king” for the Lord Jesus Christ can be relegated to the failure of parents to fulfill their greatest responsibility. That responsibility would be to make Christ known in all their ways. Part of that would be in helping children find their identity in Christ so that they might resist the temptations offered to them by the world. This parental commitment would be very much fulfilled in carrying out the mandate of 1 John…
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3 NLT).
