Day 75, or March the 16th. Why not my will sometimes,
Lord? Our thought today comes from 1 Samuel,
chapter 8, verse 6. When they said, Give us a
king to lead us, this displeased Samuel. So he
prayed to the Lord. First, the big picture surrounding
this verse. The Philistines take the ark and
put it in the temple of Dagon. Overnight the
image of Dagon falls symbolically on its face
before the ark. The Philistines were now determined
to get rid of this troublesome box of the Israelites,
and they returned it, and it is stored in the
house of Abinadab, where it remains for twenty
years. Finally, the Philistines are subdued,
and there is peace throughout the land. Samuel
had obviously forgotten the failure of Eli's
sons, and goes ahead and appoints his own sons
to serve as judges in Beersheba. It seems they
were no better than the sons of Eli, and because
of their shocking behaviour, the people begin
once again to ask for a king. Samuel tells the
people all the troubles that a king will bring
but the people insist this is what they want.
God tells Samuel that the people are not rejecting
him or his sons but in reality are rejecting
God. Samuel is instructed by God to find a man
and appoint him as king. And now our action step
for today. There are times when we are so determined
to get our own way that reason flies out of the
window. The Israelites have previously asked
God for a king and been told no. They know deep
down that God is the best king, but when circumstances
change, they suspect a real king, like all the
surrounding nations have, would solve their problems.
Samuel did not want a monarchy. He wanted the
existing theocracy to remain. How can the rule
of a man be better than the rule of an all -powerful,
all -loving and totally fair God? However, because
God is their loving Heavenly Father, He permits
the Israelites to have a king of their own. Be
careful what you ask for. God wants us to have
the best, but if we keep asking for second best,
He may just give us it.