Title: Desiring the Wrong Things/ Topic: Living by Emotions

Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 8; 1 Samuel 9; 1 Samuel 10; 2 Corinthians 10

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:1-9
1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead [a] us, such as all the other nations have."
6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 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. 8 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. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

Observation: The people were unhappy with the status quo. They wanted to be like the other nations who had kings. They had problems with the current leadership (i.e. Samuel's corrupt sons) but instead of taking the matter to God and letting him fix the situation, they came up with their own solution – a king! The interesting thing is that God directs Samuel to give them what they want and tells him to not take offense at their request because it is not him they are rejecting by making this request, it is God himself.

Application: When we are rebellious in our hearts toward God, he will often let us have what it is that we so strongly desire. But like he did with these Israelites, he warns of the consequences of getting all that we think we want. In the end, all the warnings God gave about the disadvantages of having a king came true and it caused problems for the people, but they got what their stubborn hearts desired. I have often seen, in myself and others, this same phenomenon. God will warn us but will not continually fight with us. He will let us learn the hard way by giving us what we want. This seems to be most often true in the case of romantic involvements. For most people, romance wins over principle every time. God may tell them in his Word not to get involved with an unbeliever or not to have sex before marriage, but those principles get set aside in favor of being with the person they love. Heartache usually occurs shortly after the object of their desire has been attained. This is just one example of how we fall into this trap of wanting to do things our own way and rejecting God's way. If we have problems with how He has arranged things, we need to seek a solution from Him and not take things into our own hands.

Prayer: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit and my well-being. Let me not take things into my own hands. I want to trust you even when I don't understand why things are happening the way they are. Help me to keep my heart staid on you.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.