We want a King!
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 04 Jul 2010 in From Steve's Study ::
There are all sorts of ways of getting rid of leaders (as we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks). You can remove them through ‘back-room deals’, or through an election, or perhaps even a military coup. Some leaders stay around till they die, others are killed so someone else can take their place. However it’s done, it’s got to be hard for the person who is replaced doesn’t it? No one likes to feel rejected, but to be removed from such a position is a very public “slap in the face”.
Sometimes, you could argue, this is nothing less than the person deserves. When a leader is completely incompetent, corrupt or downright evil, few would shed a tear when they are replaced. However, when a good, honest and hard-working leader is replaced, who has done nothing but good for the people he or she has led, it’s much harder to accept.
This, of course, is the very situation facing God in 1 Samuel 8. God had guided and provided for the Israelites from the time they left slavery in Egypt. He had brought them to the Promised Land and been the strength behind their peaceful settlement there. Now they didn’t want him as king, they wanted their own. Rather than accepting God’s rule as he chose to provide it, they demanded a human king to lead them… just so they could be like everyone else.
It has a sadly familiar ring to it, don’t you think? How often are we tempted to turn our backs on the king who loves us and died for us, to follow after things we can see and touch and feel? Far too easily, we give in to the things this world demands of us, following its priorities and values, rather than listening to the one who made us and knows what’s best for us.
Who is your king? Who is it that guides your life and decision-making? Will you have Jesus as your king, or will you seek to usurp him?
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