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Day 75 or March the 16th. Why not my will sometimes, Lord?

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Our thought today comes from 1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 6. When they said, Give us a king

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to lead us, this displeased Samuel. So he prayed to the Lord.

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First the big picture surrounding this verse. The Philistines take the ark and put it in

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the temple of Dagon. Overnight the image of Dagon falls symbolically on its face before

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the ark. The Philistines were now determined to get rid of this troublesome box of the

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Israelites, and they returned it, and it is stored in the house of Abinadab, where it

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remains for twenty years. Finally the Philistines are subdued, and there is peace throughout

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the land. Samuel had obviously forgotten the failure of Eli's sons, and goes ahead and

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appoints his own sons to serve as judges in Beersheba. It seems they were no better than

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the sons of Eli, and because of their shocking behaviour the people begin once again to ask

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for a king. Samuel tells the people all the troubles that a king will bring, but the people

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insist this is what they want. God tells Samuel that the people are not rejecting him or his

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sons, but in reality are rejecting God. Samuel is instructed by God to find a man and appoint

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him as king.

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And now our action step for today. There are times when we are so determined to get our

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own way that reason flies out of the window. The Israelites have previously asked God for

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a king and been told, no. They know deep down that God is the best king, but when circumstances

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change they suspect a real king, like all the surrounding nations have, would solve

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their problems. Samuel did not want a monarchy, he wanted the existing theocracy to remain.

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How can the rule of a man be better than the rule of an all-powerful, all-loving and totally

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fair God? However, because God is their loving Heavenly Father, He permits the Israelites

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to have a king of their own. Be careful what you ask for. God wants us to have the best,

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but if we keep asking for second best, He may just give us it.