Our Refuge And Strength Series

Samuel could tell by the look on their faces that the elders weren’t making a social call to inquire about his health … and he was right. One of the elders cleared his throat. “Samuel … you are getting old and, well, no offense but we’re more than a little concerned about the future of our people. When you appointed your two sons to replace you, it seemed like a good idea at the time but, well, you know … Joel and Abijah don’t follow in your ways, so we want you to appoint a king to take your place.”

Their request broke Samuel’s heart and he was sure that it would break God’s heart too because, you see, they had always had a king … a great king … a powerful, strong king … the kind of king described in Psalm 46.

[Read Psalm 46.]

Think about what Psalm 46 is saying ... that God was not only Israel’s king but that He has always been with them. They saw His power over the nations when He beat down Pharaoh. They saw His power over nature when He parted the Rea Sea and made water gush out of rocks. He traveled in their midst as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to a land that flowed with milk and honey and they again saw His mighty right arm when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down and their enemies were defeated one after another until the land was theirs.

Though the mountains tremble and shake … though the waters roar and foam … though the whole earth go into convulsions and change … they had nothing to fear because the Lord of hosts … their divine warrior God … the Supreme Commander of the Heavenly hosts … was their shield and refuge. Though empires rise and fall … though nations come against them … the Lord of Hosts … the Supreme Commander of all the nations … was their shield and refuge. Every nation that had tried to conquer them or destroy them? Gone. “Come, behold the works of the LORD,” the psalmist writes (Psalm 46:8). Despite floods and droughts, and pestilence … despite earthquakes and tornadoes … despite wars … despite everything that nature and man had thrown at them … the people, the nation of Israel, had survived because God was what? Their “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

God was a very “present” help when He led out of Egypt the Israelites in a cloud of fire and smoke. God was a very “present” help when He descended on Mt. Sinai and entered into a covenant with the Israelites as they began their wilderness journey. God was a very “present” help in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple in the very heart of the City of God. “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of ‘El Elyon’ … Most High God. God is in the midst of the city [Jerusalem]; it shall not be moved” (Psalm 46:4-5). God Himself declares that they have nothing to fear. “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth” (Psalm 45:10). They have nothing in Heaven or on earth to fear because the Lord of Hosts … the Supreme Commander of Heaven and Earth … is their refuge and their strength.

For many, many generations the Israelites had but only one King … the King of Psalm 46. Four times we are told in the Book of Judges that “Israel had no king” (Judges 17:6, 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) … but they did: Jehovah Sabaoth (Sab-bi-aTH) … the Lord of Hosts … El Shaddai … the Lord God Almighty … Jehovah Jireh … the Lord Who Provides … Jehovah Shammah … the Lord Who is There. And yet, Samuel can’t believe his ears. They want an earthly king … a king like other nations (1st Samuel 8:5).

And so, Samuel prays for a king. “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you,” says God, “for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them … only you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them” (1st Samuel 8:7, 9) … and Samuel solemnly paints a detailed picture of what they can expect:

“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves” (1st Samuel 8:10-18).