Our Own Way


 1 Samuel 8:1-9
1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba.
3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah
5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.
9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Sadly, we come to the one flaw in Samuel’s story. He was not able to raise godly sons. Just as Eli had raised Hophni and Phinehas and watched as they became wicked, so Samuel too now sees that his sons do not follow God. This must have been a tragic disappointment for him. We tend to jump to conclusions about Samuel’s (and Eli’s) parenting ability. They must have been bad fathers, right? Not so fast. Not once in the text do we hear God blaming these two fathers for the way their sons rejected Him. He places the responsibility firmly at the feet of the sons, where it belonged. The text is completely silent about their parenting skills, so we have to be silent also. Anything we could say about that would be pure speculation on our part and that should be avoided, as those speculations tend to take on some authority they do not possess.

What we can see in the text is the will of the people once again being exposed and once again they are turning their backs on God. They have had a few years of peace and blessing and instead of turning to God as asking who will lead us, as Samuel’s sons are not fit for the role, they come up with a plan of their own based on what they see in neighboring countries. They have kings, so we need one too! What they failed to realize was that they already had a King – the Lord God Almighty. But since He couldn’t be seen they thought they had a better idea – give us a human king. Whenever we believe we have a good idea that has not been tested before the throne of God, we are treading on shaky ground. God ministers to Samuel with the truth that it is He who is being rejected, not Samuel. Most of the time, it is difficult not to take the rejection that others have for God upon ourselves. We take that personally. But God rightly shows Samuel that the rejection is His alone. Samuel is and always was only the messenger of God. While the messenger may feel the pain, it is not his to bear.

The learning point for us today is that we never have a better idea than what God has planned for us. We will learn in up-coming chapters the mess that the human king brings into the lives of God’s people. Had the Israelites asked God before demanding a king, they would have seen that He had all things well in hand and did not need the foolish ideas of this creation. How often do we run down the road with our plans spilling out all over the path, only to find that we have created a great deal of pain and struggle for ourselves. Instead, turn to the God who only means you well and see what He has in store. His ideas are always better!

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