In the book of 1 Samuel the people asked for a king and it broke Samuel’s heart.  They were no longer looking for guidance from the Lord. They were no longer waiting for the Lord to provide for their needs.  They wanted a king and they wanted it now! Does that ever sound like us?  We want what we want and we want it now! But what we want is not always a good thing. And then there is the “reason” behind the “thing” that we want. God knew the reason. (8:20) “Then we will be like all the other nations…” 

Let’s think back to Genesis.  Why did God raise up a nation of His own? How did He want them to look?  Did He want them to look like the other nations? No. He wanted His nation to look different, to act different, to talk different.  To be set apart.  But, the nation of Israel wanted to “be like all the other nations.”

This begs the question, “Are we okay looking different?”.  As a Christian we are supposed to look different from the world. Christ wants His church, His beloved bride whom He gave His life for, to be set apart. We are to be in the world but not of the world. And honestly, why would we even want to look like the world when they have no hope?  Shouldn’t they want to look like us?

But yet, we tend to just walk and talk like the world. We tend to just blend in. We go to the same places, we watch the same things, we act the same way. How would the world even know that we were Christians unless we told them? Would they even believe it?

 Samuel warned the people of all the problems that having a king would bring upon them but that did not change their minds. So, the Lord told Samuel, “Listen to them and give them a king”. Basically, He is just saying, “Give them what they want.”  God knew their heart. He knew that they wanted a king instead of Him. They are rejecting God and He knew it. And so, He tells Samuel to give them what they want.

Something causes my skin to crawl when I read that. It doesn’t feel good, if you know what I mean. You just have that feeling in the pit of your stomach that it’s not going to turn out well for them when God says, “Give them what they want.” Or when God tells me, “Here you go. I will give you what you want. I’m giving you exactly what you asked for.” Uh…wait a minute. I’m not sure now. This may be what I asked for but it may not be what is the best for me. Maybe I should think about this a little more. Can I have a do-over please, God? But by the time you come to your senses or you finally figure it out, it’s too late.

            It is just a little scary to know that there are times when God gives us exactly what we ask for, what we think we want. You can be pretty confident that there is a lesson to be learned somewhere… ugh, and it will be learned the hard way! Not my favorite way!

So, sometimes God gives us what we want to make a point, to teach us something, to grow us, to train us to trust Him. Do we always have to learn the hard way? Why can’t we learn from others’ mistakes? Do we have to make our own mistakes? Yep!  Sadly most of the time we do.

            Looking at the example of the Israelites asking for a king for all the wrong reasons causes me to slow down and think through my prayers.  How many of my prayers are to make life easier for me, things that are temporary, things that don’t matter in the long run, things that I may not even want tomorrow? (I can be so fickle, you know.) How many of my prayers are the things that I think I want compared to prayers that God wants for my life? Lord, help me to want the things that you want for me!