1 Samuel 10: 17-19 says, “Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. And he said to the people of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.’”
I wonder what it would have been like to stand in the audience that day as Samuel pronounced these words. The hot sun bearing down on me and dust swirling around my feet. Would I have been excited to finally be getting a king for my land? Would the patriotism I felt for the land of Israel burn inside of me? Would I have felt a twinge of guilt for rejecting God? Would I have realized the doom this meant for God’s children? Would tears of joy or sadness fill my eyes?
I have no idea how I would have felt that day. By reading the scriptures, I know that this moment was a catalyst for the destruction of Israel. God’s children had rejected Him. The relationship would never be the same. But in Samuel’s day the people could only see the need for a king. They wanted to be like other nations. They wanted legitimacy. They wanted acceptance. They wanted power.
I too want to be like other people. I want legitimacy. I want acceptance. I want to feel special. And like Israel, I look for a king that will help me be that. Some people find their identity in their jobs or their hobbies. Some people feel special because of their circumstances -both good and bad. Some people lose themselves in their relationships with others and fail to relate to the God that delivers us from our calamities. Some people just chase after power.
God did not want half of the Israelites’ hearts. He wanted their whole hearts. God did not want to be a part of their daily lives. He wanted to be their life. In turn God wants to be our life. So many things can draw us away from the Lord, our husbands, our children, our jobs, or our passions. Have they become king in our lives? Only the God of Israel can deliver us from the land of Egypt. He is the one to save us from our calamities and our distresses. Nothing else in this world can or will.
Someday this life will end. I will stand before God and give an account. Do I want to impress others so badly that I will tell God he only had half of my energies and the other half went to securing acceptance in this world? Christ gave up everything the day he died on the cross. He gave his name to be mocked, his body to be beaten, and his heart to be broken all so that we can live in Paradise with Him. I do not want to reject that God from my life.
–Christa Bryant
Christa,
You said, “God did not want half of the Israelites’ hearts. He wanted their whole hearts. God did not want to be a part of their daily lives. He wanted to be their life.”
I could not agree more, but what does that mean to most people today? They simply put ‘God first on their lists” and not in every position. They forget the real reason we do anything we do in daily life. We love our husbands because God told us to. We love our children because God told us to. We love each other because the God who created us all told us to. If we cannot find a ‘thus sayeth the Lord for everything we do,’ then we are on the wrong path.
This is true repentance from doing what we do for ourselves to doing everything we do for God and his Son Jesus Christ. This is crucifying the old man and living the new life of service to the One who loved us enough to give His son for us.