Be Careful What You Wish For… Week 10 – Day 4, 1 Samuel 8
Samuel has become the judge over Israel for all the days of
his life. And when he grew old he
appointed his sons as judges for Israel.
But his sons Joel and Abijah were dishonest, took bribes and perverted
justice. So guess that the first lesson
is that the faith of the parents is not necessarily passed on to the children. Pardon my language, but as a parent that kind
of sucks. But that’s something we see
over and over in the Old Testament. The
faith of the parents doesn’t necessarily get passed on to the children. I get it.
But if I had one thing I could ask God for, it would probably be to
change that.
The next thing that happens here is that Israel asks for a
king. The elders tell Samuel that he’s
getting old and his sons don’t walk with the same faith so they now want a king
just like all the other nations have a king.
And Samuel takes it personally.
But God tells Samuel that the people have not rejected him, they have
rejected God. Israel has history of
fallowing God and then rejecting God.
And they are about to reject Him again.
What’s so bad about wanting a king? Everyone else has a king. What’s wrong with wanting be like everyone
else? It would be fine to be like
everyone else. But only if everyone else
was following God. But the other nations
aren’t following God. And to be like the
other nations is to be without God, to leave God behind.
And God tells them what having a king will mean. The king will take their sons and daughters
to serve him. The king will take their sons
to serve his chariots and horses, and as troops in front of the chariots. They will work the king’s fields and make
weapons. And their daughters the king
will take to serve a perfumers, cooks and bakers. The king will also take the best of their fields
and olives. And finally, the king will
take a tenth of everything, a tenth.
I’ve tried to not be political in this blog. So I’ll hope you’ll forgive this one
slip. Considering our current federal
and state tax rates, our sales taxes, the property taxes, social security taxes
and the fees that we pay today, ten percent actually sounds like a pretty good
deal. End of my brief political
commentary. Please forgive the brief
side trip.
So Samuel explains all of this to the people. And the people refuse to listen to
Samuel. They still demand a king. And so God let’s them have their king.
But what is wrong with having a king. Well, for Israel having a king is a choice, a
choice to not follow God. And a choice
to not follow God is a bad choice.
Everything good that has happened to Israel has been because
they followed God. And they are turning
their backs on God.
Ruth chose to follow God and she became a part of God’s
people. Rehab choose to side with God
and God’s people, and that saved her family.
But bottom line is that we have a choice of who we will
serve. We can serve God. Or we can serve someone else. It’s pretty straight forward. Just like Israel we make that same choice. We make that choice at important points in
our lives. We make that choice every day
in so many different ways. And if we
choose to not follow God, well then we just might get what we asked for. And everything that comes with it.
But, be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.
God, help me to see and understand the choices that I make
every day, to follow You or not follow You.
Help me to understand, to see what the consequences of turning from You
will be. Most of all, create in me a
desire to follow You, a desire to always follow You. God, may I always choose You. Amen
Leonard
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