Give Us A King! Give Us What We Want!

Give Us A King!

No, Be Our King Lord.

1 Samuel 1

Published by Deborah Negron

May, 2015

6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

Yesterday, I took little Abi for a walk. The first intention was to go to the park. Yet, we enjoyed the walking so much we walked further and ended up at the Cove. Abi loves to look at the boats and we both love the smell of the sea water. We were about to go on the little bay board walk. I stopped. I said Abi, look at my pockets. She looked. I pulled out my cell phone and my keys. I then told her, “I am missing what?” She quickly said, “Your wallet?” I said, “yes.” She then said, “Well, did you bring your card to pay for something?” I said, “No.”
“This is why, we will window shop. This means we will look at, admire and enjoy just looking at the different things they have here.” Then I said, “You can not ask me for anything. You may say next time, I would like this or that. You may tell me how beautiful something is. But I cannot buy you anything.” I then said, “Can you handle it or should we. Leave?”
Abi, sighed, then said, “I can, I will just think about things and look at them. But I won’t say I want this now.” “Okay,” I said.

We began our window shopping and actually had a good time.

We often, want what we don’t really need. We often want what others have.
We are human and this is the only requirement one needs to be always wanting more.

Paul the Apostle learned to be content in whatever state he was in. This is in poverty and abased and in plenty. He learned that he had all he would ever need, in Christ Jesus.

The children of Israel kept looking at the Jones’. The kept seeing the grass greener on the other side. We are no different. They had forgotten that it was the Lord who had taken them out of Egypt. They had forgotten about the captivity they had suffered.
They chose a human king rather than a Heavenly Father.

Yes, we want to have things be comfortable. We want what we want, when we want it. But the Lord knows what we really have need of.
He knows how changes will affect us.
He knows where and when to apply pressure and heat to cause the clay to be molded correctly.
He is the Potter. We are but the clay.
He is the carpenter, we are merely the wood. He is the one who is the jewel maker. He wants to make our shape and luster, our value and purpose clear to us. He will bring about the best in us if we allow him to be King of our hearts and Lord of our lives.

He longs to save our families and our children. He wants to return to us the wasted years and cause us to be blessed.

But are we stiffnecked? Are we stubborn? Do we want, like Israel did, a new human king?

Do we desire the Lord’s will or our own.

Do we tell God how much we love him on Sunday, and live in a way that offends him on Monday. Do we take matters into our own hands thinking God will over look our means because they will justify the ends?

Do we say we want to do good but choose lies instead of truth to reach some desired end. What are we engaging in that displeases the Lord? How is our walk different from our wirds? Are we living as Israel did.

They wanted to have what others had and live without meeting the requirements of God. They wanted his blessing but their own way.

Do we seek personal gain above doing the Lord’s will? Do we fashion for ourselves our own agenda, without truly seeking God’s plan for us?

Lord, today, glorify yourself in us. Have your way in in our homes, in your church, in our lives!

Draw us nearer to you and help us cling to you. For you are our Deliverer and our sustainer. You are our Shield and our refuge. You are the strength of our lives, the Bread of life and the living Water. Lord, let us give you your rightful place on the thrones of our hearts. Lord help us so that we might see your glory manifested as you desire, in us. That you perfect your purpose in our lives and grow in us a desire to serve you in every way.

We are are the winning side. We have not some earthly king. We have the God of Israel as our sustainer and defense. We are those whom he has chosen as his own. Let us not forget that He has taken us out of darkness and sin. He has delivered us from the captivity we were in. We were as those in Egypt held captive by the chains of our sinful nature. Jesus made a way for our freedom to be transferred over to our accounts. We have been made free from guilt and shame. We have been given new lives in Jesus Christ.

Let us rherefore live in the victory You oh Lord, have wrought for us

In Jesus’ name, I Pray., Amen.
Amen.