Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Friday,
For us in America, politics is an all too frequent hot topic, especially in recent months. The same is true in Israel, and yesterday I left you in a tragic political moment. The tribal elders had rejected Samuel’s sons and called Samuel to find them a human KING! Their words are historic and cataclysmic in significance: “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations…” (1 Samuel 8:19,20)
Nut wait a minute. At Mt Sinai, after God had delivered the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea and the desert to meet with God at Sinai, God had proclaimed to Moses: “This is what you are to tell Jacob’s descendants…the people of Israel: if you obey ME fully and keep MY covenant, then out of all the nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:3-6)
Yet with their demand of Samuel, the elders of his generation were rejecting God’s plan and privilege for Israel! They did not want to be a distinctive people, God’s people, any longer. They did not want God’s authority or leadership over them. They did not want to be a holy people. They wanted Israel to be like all the other nations! Could anything have been more offensive to God?
Could any desire be more self-destructive to the entire nation of Israel? Have you lived long enough and been globally aware enough to understand the drastic damage poor leadership can bring on any nation in a fairly short period of time? Have you also watched terrible leaders do irreparable damage to a nation which will affect several generations into the future? That was happening in this revolt in 1 Samuel 8. Israel would never again be a nation with God as king!
God’s response to this disaster challenges us to understand God’s MERCY and Patience and Longsuffering and Grace! The rebellious demand of those Israelite elders should have earned them abandonment by God. God could have done as He did with the global flood (Gen. 6-8) or with the destruction of wicked Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen. 19) God could have chosen or created another couple and started a new miracle nation as He had with Abraham and Sarah. But true to God’s character, God did not eliminate or abandon His Covenant, rather God guided Samuel to select the first human king for Israel. That story is found in 1 Samuel 9, and there we meet a tall man named Saul, son of Kish of the small tribe of Benjamin. (1 Samuel 9:1,2)
Did you notice Saul’s qualifications to be king, according to the search criteria the elders had given Samuel? The elders had demanded that Samuel find a man “…to go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:20) Oh my, how similar to the cries of many people today in many parts of the world! I see no mention of characteristics such as integrity or moral purity or wisdom or leadership experience or spiritual maturity! And so, God pointed Samuel to a man described in these words: “…Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.” (1 Samuel 9:2) Do you suppose the elders would be satisfied? In fact, God said to Samuel “Anoint him ruler over My people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on My people for their cry has reached Me.” (1 Samuel 9:16)
Pause. Do you see what God is doing here my friends? A generation before, when Israel was being led by Eli and his wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas, God had said “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do what is in MY heart and mind.” (1 Samuel 2:35) Miracle boy Samuel was God’s fulfillment of that promise. Samuel had led well, and God had done amazing things to give Israel peace and prosperity, but that was not enough for these elders who wanted a human king who had an impressive physical appearance so he could rally men to battle!
On my what a contrast of leadership! God prepared a man who knew God, loved God, could discern God’s guidance and lead people in following God’s directions. But the elders wanted a man to lead other men in battle.
Pause. Look closely around your part of the world. What are the criteria people use when selecting leaders, any type of leaders, but especially government leaders? What has been the result where you live?
1 Samuel 10 is the story of Saul’s anointing by Samuel with the sacred oil of consecration. Saul knew he was unqualified to be the first human king of the nation of Israel. Samuel gave Saul this promise: “The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you…and you will be changed into a different person…and God will be with you.” (1 Samuel 10:6,7) Throughout history, when those words become reality then YES, any person can be changed by the power of God and history is made as God accomplishes His purposes with an ordinary, unqualified person empowered and directed by God’s Holy Spirit.
Has it happened to you, my friend? As you have trusted Jesus Christ to be your Savior, has the Holy Spirit changed you by His cleansing and forgiveness from sin, and empowered you to obey God’s leading in your life? God is probably not calling you to be a king, but God is calling you to be His ambassador, His representative to your world, anointed by His Holy Spirit. (2 Cor. 5:17-20)
By the end of 1 Samuel 10, Saul was Israel’s first king. God had given the people what they demanded. Samuel, the man of God, was the last of the Judges of Israel and he handed the reigns of leadership to Saul. The nation of Israel would never be the same again.
Pause and ponder. Have you and I learned the danger of turning away from God’s design and demanding that God give us what we want? Tomorrow we’ll see what happened in Israel with a human king rather than God as king! Important summary notes are available at the Grand Narrative link below and then a wonderful song of worship, drawing our hearts to honoring Jesus who alone is qualified to be our King.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 9-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
1 Samuel 10
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.