Choosing Who Rules You

1 Samuel 8:1-22 

    1 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
    6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. 9 Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”
    10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”
    19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”  21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. 22 So the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.”  And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.”

The people of God wanted someone to rule over them instead of the LORD after seeing Samuel’s sons judge Israel badly.  The sons of the prophet perverted justice, taking bribes, and refused to follow God and be the judges to lead according to His word and ways as their father did.  This led the people to be disillusioned and no longer wanted to follow the LORD.  God allowed their request for a king to rule them because they rejected His sovereign reign over them, and therefore rejected Him as their Lord and God.  Anytime God’s people reject His rule over them and seek to replace it with human government, they reject Him and His commands.  That never ends well.  These made other gods to worship and made excuses for choosing an earthly ruler over the heavenly, forgetting all He did to deliver them from bondage and give them a heavenly inheritance.  They did not view Him as holy nor as their King anymore.  The pride of life and desire of their eyes imagined what they thought better, and rejected the best.  The LORD gave Samuel the warning of what their choice of an earthly king would mean for them, the price they would pay to have and maintain such a human master, but still did not truly count the cost and demanded a substitute king over God anyway.  The LORD agreed to honor that foolish request for someone other than God to fight their battles and be their judge, shifting His righteous rule to that of sinful men and forgetting His grace and mercy and protection all those years.  The LORD gave victory in battle, not the judges.  The LORD led and fed them out of bondage and the wilderness.  Yet they chose to reject the one with the right to rule them and the judges He chose to govern them, desiring a selfish and powerless substitute.  History would bear out the consequences of leaving their first love and the price they would ultimately pay.  We can learn from this that we choose who rules us, and if we choose unwisely, there are dire consequences.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is our King of kings and LORD of Lords; how dare we put men over Him to guide our spiritual and moral living?  God indeed puts governments over us by His hand, but we must still choose who rules our soul and spirit.  His word judges us and we cannot replace that sovereign care, guidance, and rule with another’s.  And let us also never use bad spiritual leaders as reasons to choose to live apart from God’s sovereign rule over us as Israel did here with Samuel’s sons.  He is our perfect example of judge and king, and we are without excuse to reject these things.  Choose who rules you.