2018-10-21T11:00:00-05:00
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
The opening of 1 Samuel 8 sounds familiar. When the passage was read this past Sunday, I thought: “Didn’t we just do this a few weeks ago, I know how this story goes: a leader has become old and sets his wicked sons up to follow in his footsteps, but God is working behind the scenes to prepare another man to take his place.”
The reader should remember that this was the exact environment that the LORD used to raise up Samuel (1 Samuel 2-3). However, this time when the elders looked around and saw the wickedness of the new judges, they wanted to take matters into their own hands. Either 1) they were not willing to wait to see what and how the LROD would provide. Or 2) they could not see what the LORD was doing, and maybe they forgot about the ways that he provided for them in the past. One timeline I found suggests that it had been nearly 50 years since the LORD graciously provided Samuel to the people in the place of Hophni and Phinehas. Either way, they wanted something visible, measurable, and comprehensible. They did not want to, or felt that it was unwise, to trust and wait. Thus, they chose their own king.
The desire of the elders for a king was not forbidden. Nevertheless, this desire was clearly a rejection of God being king over them (1 Samuel 8:7) and a lack of trust in His provision and promise. Moses prophetically established rules to govern a king for the young nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Of note in that section is that the king is not to acquire many horses, wives, or silver, and he is to read the law of the LORD all of days of his life that he “may not be lifted up above his brothers.”
We know the LORD is sovereignly preparing a king after His own heart who will lead the people well, but this new king hasn’t been born yet. The elders were not willing to wait to see what the LORD would do and took matters into their own hands. The unwillingness to trust in the LORD results in great cost.
Through prayer, the LORD reveals to Samuel that the king they set up will take from the people. He will not follow the rules laid out by Moses: “he will take your sons… he will take your daughters… he will take the best of your fields… he will take the tenth of your grain… he will take your male servants… donkeys… he will take the tenth of your flocks.” Ultimately, Samuel says “and you shall be his slaves” (1 Samuel 8:17). If we put our trust in any ruler, power, or authority other than the sovereign king, it will enslave us.