March 24, 2010

Today's reading: I Samuel 8, 9, 10; Psalm 24, 54, 84, 114, 144; Proverbs 24

I Samuel 8:5-7, "And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."

As I was reading today's Scripture passage I was wondering what the children of Israel were thinking. They up to this point have been ruled by God Himself. You could not ask for a better ruler. I think they had been bitten by the same bug that we give in to in our day. We want to be like everyone else and so did they. Notice they said, "... like all the nations." They wanted to be like all the other nations around them. This was a huge mistake. It was a far bigger mistake than they ever imagined.

People in our day will go so far as to have plastic surgery to look like someone else. That is sad. Why can we not be content with what we have or where we are, etc... The Apostle Paul tells us that he learned to be content no matter where he was or what state he was in (Philippians 4:11). We need to find ourselves in this same state.

No matter what Samuel told the people they would not listen to him. Notice I Samuel 8:19-20, "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." This is so sad that God's own people had forsaken Him like this. But wait a minute. You and I are guilty of the very same thing too. Yes, we are. We make certain purchases because so and so has one just like it. This list of things could go on and on.

We should have the desire to be like Jesus and not so and so. If we are not careful we will find ourselves thinking that we deserve whatever it is that we want. This is not true. God provides all that we need. Look at I Samuel 10:22, "Therefore they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff." We need to be careful not to be come like Saul. Oh, he started out humble and hiding among the stuff. He ended just the opposite. He ended thinking he was "the stuff" if you will.

We need to learn to be content with God as our Father and Provider. That way we can say as the psalmist said in Psalm 144:15, "Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD."

Are you happy and joyful?