by Wesley Blackburn
In a lot of ways, today's passage is really sort of foreboding. King Saul is appointed king over the entire nation of Israel, but Samuel warns that the people having a king will only lead to trouble for them. He and God are clearly not excited about this development.
But nevertheless, God doesn't typically make a habit of acting against our wishes. Here, the people wanted a king. Even though God knew this wouldn't be best, He wasn't going to stop the general consensus of the people. If they wanted a king, then a king they would get.
This happens in our lives, too. Sometimes, I hear people get angry that God wouldn't stop them from making a bad decision, engaging in a wrong behavior, or some other thing. Not to be mean or judgmental, but to blame God in these situations is kind of silly. It's not God's fault when I develop an addiction. It's not God's fault that I'm not working on my marriage or engaging in real relationships with my friends. When we make bad decisions, that's not God's fault, it's ours. For us to expect God to fix our bad decisions and always make everything better is simply ridiculous. We don't expect this in any other arena of life, so why would that be the case with God?
But in reading today, I saw one other thing that I thought was funny, and it was the people's demand that "There shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations..." (8:19-20, ESV). In other words, "We want a king because everyone else has one!" How immature and juvenile does that sound?
But I do the same thing all the time. Being a Christian means that I have to say "no" to some things that look really appealing and "yes" to some things that seem very hard and difficult. Sometimes I complain to God about how much good stuff I'm doing and I'm really just whining that I can't live a life like everyone else. That's not appealing. Or mature.
If I may indulge in a personal example, I remember in college that there was this season in my life where I was really bummed about not really dating anyone even though all my friends were (and, in typical Bible college fashion, some were already married or engaged). That made me depressed, frustrated, and even angry toward God. A frequent prayer in my life at the time sounded something like "When will it be my turn, God?" I wish I could say that that was only a season of my life that lasted maybe a month or two. But in all reality, it was a season of my life that lasted about two years. Probably the biggest thing, though, was that because I was focusing on what I didn't have, I was missing the opportunities to accomplish God's will for my life in the present. That's time I'll never get back, all because I was focused (just like the Israelites) on wanting to be like everyone else around me and live out the life God had chosen for them and not the life God had chosen for me.
Let's not miss the opportunities that God has placed before us in the present simply because we're focused on what everyone else around us has. As Israel would discover, God really knew what he was talking about. We'll see that the dynasty of Israeli kings as a whole would just be terrible. When God says something, let's take Him at His word, trusting Him and being thankful for the opportunities to live out His will for our lives in the present.
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