Mark's Blog

Word:  1 Samuel 8:10-22 (NLT)

¹⁰ So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. ¹² 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. ¹³ The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. ¹⁴ He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. ¹⁶ He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. ¹⁷ He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. ²⁰ “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

²¹ So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said, ²² and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.

Who will be the better leader of the nation God or anyone else?  The question begs the answer, but if the answer is so obvious, why then did this nation and why do people still choose someone else?  If Samuel were addressing a modern audience, he would warn them that godless leaders will draft your sons and daughters into armies that fight unjust wars and come home with damaged souls. He would warn you that godless governors will tax you to support the government, tax you to support the leaders, tax you to pay for weapons of destruction, tax you until you beg for relief—but there is none. Power corrupts, so don’t be surprised at corruption of morals or of God-given values. Power corrupts, and the people beg for relief, but there is none.

”Even so, we still want a king,” they said.”  We want to be like other nations. We want justice, we want victory, and we want to be Number One! And we don’t need God to do that. We aren’t talking about church; we are talking about a country! We just need the right Leader–a king!

And so we have them—as well as everything that God warned us would accompany a king.  And we can’t imagine any alternative.

What would it look like if God were King of our nation?

Prayer:  Forgive us, Sovereign Lord, for not even knowing what a country under your rule would look like because we have had other leaders for so long.  Forgive us, Lord, for ignoring your warnings about a king and just choosing whoever we wanted.  We do not beg for relief from the corruption and burdens of our own rebellion, but we do beg for mercy and forgiveness, Father, and a chance to crown you King of our nation.