Focus Chapters:
- 1 Samuel 4:12-22
- 1 Samuel 5-8
Standout Verse(s):
1 Samuel 8:4-7, 19-20 NLT
Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
Observation (s):
- Israel wanted a physical king like all the other nations.
Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
- Israel failed to see that they rejected God as their King, through their desire to mirror other nations by getting a physical king.
Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
- The people’s heart was set on getting a king. They refused to listen to Samuel’s warning about the restrictions that having a king would place on them.
But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.“We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
Application:
I recently saw a video of a young woman who has been job hunting for over a year. All her applications were rejected. Due to these rejections, this woman acknowledged that she was depressed and suffered from self-esteem issues. She often asked herself the questions: “Why didn’t they want me?”, “Why wasn’t I good enough?”
If being rejected by a stranger can cause such as serious blow, can you imagine how God would have felt at Israel’s rejection? Israel was God’s people. God has been with them the whole way, from Egypt to Canaan, fighting for them and leading them into battle. He has been their King yet the people requested an earthly king because they wanted to be like earthly nations. In their eagerness to conform to the world, they overlooked the role God plays in their lives and ignored Samuel’s warnings of the challenges to come.
Don’t make the mistake of the Israelites. Consider this. You reject God each time you choose the earthly version of a role that God already plays in your life. Don’t be so caught up in mirroring others that you reject God’s role in your life and bypass the warnings of the hard road ahead. Think and act careful.
