As I have said on numerous occasions, no one is perfect. The truth is that all of us make mistakes, and are guilty of making decisions based on impulse. In other words, we allow ourselves to be led by our feelings, and the worst part is that we allow ourselves to be led by the things of this world. This causes many to reach the painful conclusion that our life would be much better if we had taken wiser decisions. Recognizing this in our life is not something easy, as no one likes to admit that we have been mistaken, and this is something extremely frustrating; especially when we are going through a difficult situation, that on many occasions we have brought onto ourselves. There is a very popular saying that states, “those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it,” and this is the theme that we will explore today. Today we are going to learn a very valuable lesson from a terrible decision. Let us now turn to the Word of God.
1 Samuel 8:4-7 - Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Like I always say, in order to have a better understanding of the message that God has for us today, it will be necessary to conduct a brief history review. The first book of Samuel describes the leadership transition in Israel from judges to kings, in other words from theocracy to monarchy. As we can see in the verses that we are studying today, Samuel had the distinction of being the last judge of Israel, and also the distinction of being the first prophet. This is something that is clearly stated in 1 Samuel 3:19-21 when we read, “So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD. 21Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.” At this point in history Israel had settled in the Promised Land. They did not have a king that reigned over them, there was no government that dictated laws, demanded taxes, or that had an army. The reason why they did not have any of this is because they did not need it, they had judges that were raised by God, and He protected them at all times. This is something that is clearly reflected in Judges 2:18 when we read, “And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.” In all reality the people of that time should have been extremely joyful because God himself guided and protected them, but apparently it was not enough for them. Keeping these brief details in mind, let us now continue with our study for today.
In the verses that we are studying today we read, “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” As we can clearly see, the people were not satisfied with God reigning over them; the people were not satisfied with being extremely different than the rest of the world, but rather wanted to be just like the rest of the world. God had chosen them to be something very different from the rest of the world; this is something that is extremely clear in Deuteronomy 7:6 when we read, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth;” however, they chose to ignore this.
Ignoring or not paying attention to the Word of God is something that continues to be a grave problem within the people of God of today. I say this because these people were chosen to be extremely special and different, and we also have been chosen in the same fashion. This is something that is clearly stated in 1 Peter 2:9 when we read, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” But regardless of this, there are many that insist in not being different from the rest of the world. The principal reason for this is because the majority of us have the need to be accepted by those that surround us. The problem that exists in this is that in order to do that, we then have to be part of the mix. This means that our way of thinking and acting will be more influenced by the circumstances and situations that surround us, instead of the Word of God. This means that our way of thinking and acting will be more influenced by that which is commonly and easily accepted by the world, instead of that, which is acceptable to God. Once we do this, then our faith begins to falter; needless to say that to cause the faith of a believer to falter and fail is a very well orchestrated plan by our enemy.
The truth is that our enemy knows quite well that he cannot defeat God; he knows that he does not have anything within his reach capable of defeating God, and he is very aware of what his ending will be. His ending is, as we find in Revelations 20:10 when we read, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” With all of his wisdom and power, the devil cannot bring down God’s Kingdom, but he can try to destroy the faith of a believer. When we take the time to meditate on the scriptures that we are using today, it is not hard to conclude that this was the case with the people of that time. The enemy was able to destroy the faith of the people because they did not learn from history. I need to stop here to clear something. There was nothing wrong in what they were asking; I say this because God had promised them that one day they would have a king. This is something that is clearly illustrated in Deuteronomy 17:14-15 when we read, “When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” So the problem was not in what they were asking, the problem was that they were unwilling to wait. The problem was that they took their eyes from the One that guided and protected them, and fixed their sight in man; they preferred to have a man that they could see and hear instead of God. This tragic decision led them to not experience the perfect will of God.
Continuing with our study we read, “But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD.” As we can see, Samuel’s immediate reaction demonstrates that he knew what the people were asking was extremely bad. Why was it bad? Samuel was able to quickly see that it was bad because Samuel did not forget history. Samuel remembered quite well what we find in Leviticus 20:23 when we read, “And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.” God had called them to be different, but now they wanted to be just like the rest of the nations. They were in fact rejecting Samuel as a judge, but most important of all is that they were rejecting God as their king. Look carefully at this detail when we read, “7And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” When we compare the people of God of that time with the people of God of today, we will quickly discover that we are not entirely different from them.
Based on these verses we see that the elders from Israel came together to ask for a king, and with this they were, in fact, rejecting God. They had the King of Kings, they had Jehovah Jira, they had the almighty God who liberated them from evil, but they chose to place their trust in a man rather than on God. It is sad to say, but this attitude is easily found in our society today. The people of today, just as the people of that time, prefer to place their trust in man rather than on God. I say this because there are countless people that have abandoned the place of blessings to chase after the conveniences. There are many that have moved from the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ and have readily accepted the doctrines of demons. Today we can easily find a generation that is creating doctrines that attempt to remove God from everything. There are many doctrines that have been created by the devil with the sole purpose of distancing men from God, and it would be impossible to cover them all in this brief period of time that we share, but I know that all of you have a very good idea of what these things are.
What I am saying is that just as in that time in history, the world of today is serving strange gods and further distancing themselves from the almighty’s will. When we read this entire chapter, we see that something very important happened. We see that God warned them that what they were asking would not be good for them; however, regardless of the warning, they decided not to trust God. The result of their decision was catastrophic. I say this because everything that God told them would happen, happened.
In conclusion; the nation of Israel eventually had 41 kings, from these only 11 followed God, and seven of them disregarded God completely during the last periods of their reign. This spiritual rebellion led the nation of Israel to be captured by other nations, and eventually led them to cease existing. We must all learn from the very hard lesson that these people had to endure. From this lesson, we must learn that the answer to our problems can never rest on man, but rather we must trust in God. The people of that time, just as many of us today, had difficulties and problems; they had nations surrounding it that invaded their land and wished to destroy them. However, they also had God who protected and guided them at all times. The problem was not that God had forgotten them, or that God stopped talking to them; the problem was that the people of that time forgot about God and chose not to listen.
Brethren, there is a very powerful force in this world that wants to eliminate our faith in God. There are legions of demons with the sole purpose of distancing men from God’s will. This is something that we are clearly warned about in Ephesians 6:12 when we read, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” I know that I am not telling you anything new, all of us here know that we are in a state of war, but it is necessary for me to remind you because we have to stand up and fight. The influence of one powerful being was what tempted and accomplished the leading of a nation to a complete state of rebellion, and to reject God as their king. Let us never allow ourselves to be intimidated, there is a powerful being that wishes to destroy God’s kingdom, but let us always remember that we do not serve a powerful being, we serve the almighty being, and His name is Jesus Christ. Look carefully at what we find in Philippians 2:9-11 when we read, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Let us learn from the mistake of these people, and let us always be attentive to God’s voice. Let us heed His warnings, and let us always allow ourselves to be guided by Him at all times. Let us seek the answers to our difficulties and struggles, but not in man as the people of that time did. Let us seek the solutions in only God, and let us always thank Him for not giving us a King that came to judge us, but rather gave us a king that would save us. Let us never forget what our Lord said in John 12:47 when we read, “And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.”
Listen today to His words, and your salvation will be assured.
