Day 10: 1 Samuel 8:1–22

Listen to them, but you must solemnly warn them and tell them about the rights of the king who will rule over them (v. 9).

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Then, when he grew old, he appointed his two sons to serve in his place. But like Eli before him, his sons dishonored the Lord. We don’t know what went wrong. What we do know is that the people demanded a king.

I believe this request from the people devastated Samuel. Hadn’t he loved and sacrificially served these people?

Then, in a move that seemed to justify and reward their misplaced values and shortsightedness, the Lord told him to grant their request because they had not rejected Samuel as judge; they had rejected God as king.

As always, Samuel obeyed.

Still, he told the people of the taxes they would pay, the freedoms they would lose, and ultimately how their sons and daughters would be reduced to virtual slavery by the fulfillment of their request. No matter how Samuel reasoned, however, the people wanted a king. They wanted a king for all the wrong reasons. Ultimately, they wanted a king because the other nations had them.

We can see so many truths in the situation. One lesson speaks of patience. God had already planned a king for the people. Their lack of patience was to cost them dearly. If they had waited for the Lord’s choice instead of demanding their way, how different might the story have been?

Another lesson from the story deals with rejection. None of us enjoys rejection, but when we are serving Christ, any rejection falls to His broad shoulders rather than our narrow ones. The next time you feel rejection’s sting, remember God’s words to Samuel: “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me” (v. 7).

Samuel warned the Israelites about what they were getting into. Often when God does not readily give us what we want, it is because He knows what our desire would cost us. Faith sometimes means forgoing our desires because we trust Christ to have a better plan for our lives.