{"id":742,"date":"2014-10-23T14:32:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T19:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=742"},"modified":"2014-10-23T14:32:50","modified_gmt":"2014-10-23T19:32:50","slug":"give-us-a-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/10\/23\/give-us-a-king\/","title":{"rendered":"What do you want from God?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow make us a king to judge us like all the nations.\u201d
\nSure, God had predicted that phrase nearly word-for-word to Moses so many years before, but that didn\u2019t make it any less hurtful that His own people fulfilled His words when they decided His way wouldn\u2019t work for them. They needed to be like the people around them. Give them what they want, God told Samuel, \u201cfor they have not rejected you, but have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7)
\nThe rejection came on multiple levels \u2013 They decided they wouldn\u2019t trust Him to lead them. They didn\u2019t even think to ask Him if appointing a king was something they should do. They didn\u2019t ask for His guidance in picking a king. They simply told Samuel to pick a king for them without considering what God would want. They ignored what He had told their fathers so long before, warning them what kings would do (Deuteronomy 17:16-17, fulfilled completely by Solomon in 1 Kings 10:23-11:3).
\nIn wanting what everyone else had, they forgot that they already had what none of those other nations ever did. They were like a man living in a mansion becoming envious of all of his neighbors who lived in tents. They were like a man fed up with his steak and lobster because he\u2019s tired of watching those around him eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without him. They were like\u2026 well, us.
\nWhen Christians who have been blessed with God\u2019s presence in their lives look at the people around them and say, \u201cWe need what they have,\u201d we reject God the same way Israel did. We tell Him He\u2019s not good enough to satisfy us. Consider the ways we tell God we\u2019re going to give up His provision to put our trust in human abilities instead.
\nIn our churches. <\/strong>You know what\u2019s difficult? Going and making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. You know what\u2019s easy? Turning the church into a buffet, furnished with all the programs a person might need that might magnetically pull them into the church based on what they feel like they might need. It\u2019s not wrong to provide services to help build people up, but it is wrong to replace the hard work commanded of God\u2019s people with an “easy way out” form of outreach.
\nHow many elders, preachers, and members have surveyed the megachurches around them and said \u201cWe need to be like them\u201d? It\u2019s not just the churches that rely on entertainment or going against God\u2019s plan for worship or leadership that are guilty of this, though. Any church that thinks the church growth strategy of providing programs until people finally find one they like is the way to grow in place of the hard work of the great commission has chosen a new king, namely man\u2019s wisdom.
\nIn our homes.<\/strong> Israel was concerned about their security. They often went to war with the people around them, and they wanted a mighty, strong leader to represent them. They got their man in Saul, described as being head and shoulders taller than any of his countrymen (1 Samuel 9:2). And yet they failed to realize that it didn\u2019t matter how tall or strong their king was, he could never make them more secure than they were when they were obedient to God.
\nSo many times in the home, a different kind of security is the key motivating factor for life\u2019s decisions \u2013 financial security. Parents push their children toward earthly success at the expense of their relationships with God. \u201cSure, he might have to miss every Sunday in the summer for baseball and every Wednesday in the fall for basketball, but he needs that scholarship!\u201d \u201cNo, she couldn\u2019t make it to Bible class this week, she has to study to keep her grades up.\u201d Families observe as the people around them serve the king of material success and say, \u201cWe want that king, too!\u201d Matthew 6:25-34 and Psalm 37:25 tell us that we need never worry because God takes care of His own. If you\u2019ve traded a King who has never failed in His promise to take care of His people for the king of American \u201csuccess,\u201d it\u2019s time for a regime change.
\nIn our daily lives.<\/strong> As I was getting my hair cut recently, the barber was telling me of his kids\u2019 involvement in church activities and how active his daughter is at her college\u2019s campus ministry. I remarked on how that\u2019s good to hear because most people get too busy for that stuff when they get to college. His reply was perfect: \u201cYeah, but they\u2019re never too busy to do what they really want to do.\u201d Exactly. It\u2019s really easy to say that we didn\u2019t study our Bible enough or set aside time for prayer regularly each week because of how much we have going on, but we always seem to have time for the 3 hour football games, our favorite TV shows, shopping, or whatever our hobbies are.
\nHow we prioritize our time tells us exactly who is king of our lives. We can recognize what God has given us and be content in serving Him with our choices, or we can look at how much \u201cfun\u201d the world around us is having without stopping for God and decide we\u2019re going to serve that same king of busyness. I\u2019ve often found myself looking for things to do to occupy my time so I can keep blaming busyness for my lack of time with God, and maybe you have, too. It all comes down to a choice we make each day. Who is king of my life today, God or my personal pursuits and hobbies? We can look at Israel and point out their mistakes and question why they would want a king, but we don\u2019t hold any moral high ground over them as we continue to supplant God\u2019s rule in our lives with the kings of the worldly people around us.
\nThe people of Israel forgot the role God played for them as their king and protector. They looked to Samuel and realized he wouldn\u2019t always be there for them, and so they began to notice how the nations around them operated. They fell for the classic mistake of thinking the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, that the other nations were better off with what they were doing than Israel was in following God\u2019s leadership. So, they modeled \u201ctheir side of the fence\u201d after the other nations. A quick reading of Psalm 23 tells us that the grass isn\u2019t greener on the other side of the fence, the grass is always greenest where God leads us. They didn\u2019t trust in His providence for their lives, and they paid the consequences. In our churches, our homes, and in our personal lives, we have the same choice to make. Who is king of your life?
\nBy Jack Wilkie<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow make us a king to judge us like all the nations.\u201d Sure, God had predicted that phrase nearly word-for-word to Moses so many years before, but that didn\u2019t make it any less hurtful that His own people fulfilled His words when they decided His way wouldn\u2019t work for them. They needed to be like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,46,59,32],"tags":[58,160,23,403,377,404,405,406,381],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-children","category-christian-living","category-church","tag-children","tag-god","tag-jack","tag-king","tag-priorities","tag-samuel","tag-saul","tag-success","tag-time","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat do you want from God? - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/10\/23\/give-us-a-king\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What do you want from God? - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cNow make us a king to judge us like all the nations.\u201d Sure, God had predicted that phrase nearly word-for-word to Moses so many years before, but that didn\u2019t make it any less hurtful that His own people fulfilled His words when they decided His way wouldn\u2019t work for them. 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