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David Reading | Week 1 | Day 1
Prayer
Open my heart to the ways in which I need to surrender myself to you Lord.
Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 8
Read these verses three times slowly.
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeasedSamuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for 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 groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”
Reflection & Questions
By Pastor Dan Chapin
People want to be led by someone, but they often don’t know who that someone is. So they look to people of influence in their communities, politicians of the country, or even to foreign nations to be our example of what we want to be and how we want to be led. If we only had THAT political system in that country, then we would all thrive and be happy. If we only had That leader, instead of the one we currently have then we would all be safer. If we only lived in a town with those services, that church, then our lives would be better. We all desire a hero to rescue us, but we are all conflicted on who that hero is? Is it a system? A politician? Another State?
We are hard wired to want someone to lead us. The Israelites wanted someone to lead them. They wanted to be like every other nation who had a king. They wanted someone to “fight for them.” They wanted a system that made them feel safe and secure so that they could prosper. However there’s a problem, and Samuel points it out well.
The problem is, if you want a king to fight for you, who do you think he is going to call to do the fighting? The sons of Israel of course. And, who is going to pay and feed this king? Well the people are going to need to be taxed! They are going to need to turn in a tenth of all they own to keep the king happy. Samuel says, “So you think you want a king like that?”
However all this doesn’t get to the heart of WHY they want a king. They want a king because for them, God just isn’t enough. Look at verse 7 again. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. The sobering reality is that we will always look to social media influencers, pastors, politicians and leaders as the answer to the problems in our world until we finally see that God is the only answer to who we truly should be following as our leader. People will fail, but God never will. People will be a burden on you, God will remove your burdens. People will be selfish, God will be selfless. Who wouldn’t want to follow God as the primary leader of their life?
- Is there a leader that you find yourself following more than God?
- How can you actively pursue God as the number one leader in your life?
Prayer
Pray in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
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Questions?
Ed Applegate
