Be Careful What You Wish For

Passage: 1 Samuel 8

One of the reasons people of faith obsess about God’s will is that we’re convinced God wants to give us nothing but happy and comfortable lives.  We assume that if we just figure out God’s will, everything will go according to what we consider “good”.  And that when things seem to go badly for us, it must be an indication that we have strayed from God’s will.  A close reading of the biblical narrative reveals that this is simply not the case.  God repeatedly permits or even actively delivers his people into circumstances that are difficult or even disastrous.  Ironically, God also sometimes gives his people exactly what they want as a way of teaching them a lesson. 

Take, for example, the Israelites’ demand for a king.  The life of God’s people has been haphazard and chaotic ever since they settled in the Promised Land.  They assume the chaos is due to an absence of unified government.  The simple solution?  Get a king.  Actually, their problem is something different – something God predicted right before they entered the Promised Land.  Deuteronomy 8 records God’s words:

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.

(Deuteronomy 8:10-14; 19-20)

God’s prediction comes true.  As soon as they have tasted the luxury of the Promised Land, God’s people forget God.  They become exactly like every other nation of godless pagans.  And when things unravel for them, they adopt exactly the same strategy as every other godless nation: They have kings?  We need a king, too.  The Israelites go to God’s prophet, Samuel, and demand a king.  Samuel, sensing his own failure as God’s representative, laments the request before God.  God says, “It isn’t you they’ve rejected; today they have rejected me as their king!”  Then God tells Samuel to give the people what they’ve asked for.  Samuel tells them,

“This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 

“He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 

“He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

God will give the Israelites the thing they want.  But in getting in, they will get far more than they want; and will miss what they really need: the presence and provision of almighty God, the one true King.

Like the Israelites, we run the risk of trading in the currency of God’s blessing for the currency of this world; and mistaking the stuff of this world as the stuff of God’s blessing.  The wealth and comfort and security of this world become a curse when we expect it to do what only God can.  To our detriment, God sometimes gives us exactly what we want.  But God in his mercy has also given us what we most need.  The truth is that we need a king, and receive that king in the person of Jesus Christ.  The true king has come to break the power of sin and death and hell and to set us free.  All we have to do is stop looking around for substitute sources of security.  And embrace the King on his terms.  When we do, we discover that the true King came not to take, but to give.  And that belonging to him means getting more than you dreamed possible.