We Want A King!

WE WANT A KING!

a prayer to open

My Lord, my God, show me your heart. Ground me in your presence.

Draw me near and hold me close.

Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the LORD for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the LORD replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

So Samuel passed on the LORD’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons. . . . Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. . . . He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the LORD will not help you.”

But the people refused to listen. . . . “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

So Samuel repeated to the LORD what the people had said, and the LORD replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.”

Today’s passage begins with the Israelites—who had been governed for hundreds of years by God-appointed judges and led most recently by the prophet Samuel—demanding that they be governed instead by a king as the nations that surrounded them were. Imagine what it must have been like for Samuel, after leading the Israelites faithfully for his entire life, to hear their demand that he be replaced and they be governed like the pagan nations. God brought Samuel comfort in the midst of this difficult time, though, reminding him that it was God the Israelites were rejecting, not Samuel.

• What motivated the Israelites to ask for a human king? Why did they want to be like “all the other nations” (verse 5)? In what ways are you seeking to be like other people?
• Review God’s response to Samuel in verses 7-9. In what ways have you been rejected by family, friends, or coworkers for doing the right thing or deciding to follow God’s ways? How might God comfort you in those moments?
• What things in this world most often tempt you to turn away from him?

Father, help me embrace your plans for my life. I am so tempted to turn to the ways of this world instead of placing my full trust in you, your timing, and your wisdom. I long for you to be the King and Lord of my every thought, word, and action. Please give me the courage to walk in your ways even in the face of insult or rejection. May your will be done in me. Amen.