The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Samuel 8:21,
"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.'"
This exchange Samuel had with the Lord took place following Samuel's warning to the Israelites as to what would happen to them if they pressed for a king to reign over them. The warning Samuel gave them was directed by the Lord. Here are some of the warnings the Lord gave Israel through Samuel if they were to push for a king:
A king would press their sons into his service in either the military or to work in his fields. He would press their daughters into his service to be perfumers, cooks and bakers. He would take the best of the Israelite vineyards, fields and olive groves to give to others. The king would tax the Israelites and give the revenue to his officials and attendants. He would take servants and the best of the livestock for his own use. Most notably, the Israelites would become the slaves of the king they demanded be placed over them.
The Lord predicted the Israelites would cry out to him for relief from a king they would choose. However, as the Lord pointed out to Samuel, the Israelite's demand for one of their own to be made king over them was an expression of their rejection of God as king over the nation. In 8:7-8, the Lord tells Samuel, "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."
What catches my attention this morning is that the Lord "gave over" his people to their own devices in their demand for a human king. Although the Israelites would suffer great loss for themselves and although giving in to them facilitated a rejection of the Lord in the life of the nation, the Lord gave them over to their demand. The Scriptures repeatedly demonstrate how the Lord allows mankind to exercise the free will he himself has given them, and, along with allowing people to pursue their own will, he responds in his own way, his own judgment.
Consider this frightful observation made by Paul in Romans 1:22-24, "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another." God gave them over!
See also the next few verses, "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error." God gave them over!
Paul's next comment in Romans 1:28-32 outlines the terrible descent into human depravity people fall into as God gives them over to their sinful impulses in their rejection of him, "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." God gave them over!
The judgment of God for rejection of him can, and often leads to his "giving over" of them, to their own sinful devices that result in their own misery, their own unhappiness and often their own destruction.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"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.'"
This exchange Samuel had with the Lord took place following Samuel's warning to the Israelites as to what would happen to them if they pressed for a king to reign over them. The warning Samuel gave them was directed by the Lord. Here are some of the warnings the Lord gave Israel through Samuel if they were to push for a king:
A king would press their sons into his service in either the military or to work in his fields. He would press their daughters into his service to be perfumers, cooks and bakers. He would take the best of the Israelite vineyards, fields and olive groves to give to others. The king would tax the Israelites and give the revenue to his officials and attendants. He would take servants and the best of the livestock for his own use. Most notably, the Israelites would become the slaves of the king they demanded be placed over them.
The Lord predicted the Israelites would cry out to him for relief from a king they would choose. However, as the Lord pointed out to Samuel, the Israelite's demand for one of their own to be made king over them was an expression of their rejection of God as king over the nation. In 8:7-8, the Lord tells Samuel, "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."
What catches my attention this morning is that the Lord "gave over" his people to their own devices in their demand for a human king. Although the Israelites would suffer great loss for themselves and although giving in to them facilitated a rejection of the Lord in the life of the nation, the Lord gave them over to their demand. The Scriptures repeatedly demonstrate how the Lord allows mankind to exercise the free will he himself has given them, and, along with allowing people to pursue their own will, he responds in his own way, his own judgment.
Consider this frightful observation made by Paul in Romans 1:22-24, "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another." God gave them over!
See also the next few verses, "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error." God gave them over!
Paul's next comment in Romans 1:28-32 outlines the terrible descent into human depravity people fall into as God gives them over to their sinful impulses in their rejection of him, "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." God gave them over!
The judgment of God for rejection of him can, and often leads to his "giving over" of them, to their own sinful devices that result in their own misery, their own unhappiness and often their own destruction.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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