Friday Reflection:
The Danger of Getting What We Want
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After a half-millennium of
living as a self-governing people, the ancient Israelites went to the Prophet
Samuel and asked him to appoint a king. They soon learned the danger of getting
what they wanted.
From the perspective of practical governance, no section of Holy
Scripture is more interesting to me than that of 1 Samuel 8. This is where the
people of God look around and demand that they be given a king like everyone
else had. God warned them that the king would do bad things, and they
responded—in essence—“Sold! We want that!”
Those bad things? High taxes, unnecessary wars, foreign control, loss of
rights and property. The king would be serving himself rather than the people.
Yet, the Bible recounts, the people eagerly signed on.
God made it clear that by rejecting self-governance, they were rejecting
Him. Such is the state of the human heart that we so willingly trade heavenly
gifts for earthly baubles!
Of course, the Law given to the people by God did indeed make a provision
for a future king, but it was to be a king chosen at a time of God’s choosing
for them and their benefit. God wanted the people to want God to provide what
they needed when they needed it, not because they had grown weary of governing
themselves.
God wanted the people to trust in Him. God wanted His people to know how
to govern themselves before the installation of a king. God wanted the people
to have something much better than a king in the form of the other nations; He
wanted for them a King who served them. But the 450 years between the time they
entered the land and when they made the demand on Samuel, the people
demonstrated they were not ready for a king. The people had not yet shown a
sufficient ability to govern themselves.
Much of the Bible can be read from the perspective of people refusing to
govern themselves. It started in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve had
only one restriction. They were not to eat the fruit from one tree; they could
have anything else. But they chose to pursue what was denied to them rather
than enjoy what they had. Their lack of self-discipline affected (and
infected!) all of us.
This plays out again and again in Scripture and in our lives.
The first three kings—Saul, David, and Solomon—made various messes of
various things, all in keeping with the admonition from God. The arrogance of
the fourth king, Rehoboam, led to the downfall of the united kingdom
and—functionally—the end of Israel as a geopolitical entity for several
millennia.
But let us be clear: the kings did serve a divine purpose. They
demonstrated through their failings the kind of king God had in mind for them.
One who comes not to be served but to serve; one who does not add burdens but
takes them away.
Of course, we celebrate the arrival of that King of Kings during Advent.
Self-governance is as hard today as it was for the people of ancient
Israel. We live in constant rejection of the system that God Himself gave us
for our happiness and well-being under Him. But, in fits and starts, we have
seen efforts to reclaim our heritage and birthright.
We find all too many of our countrymen still demanding a king, a strong
ruler, or a wise leader rather than taking individual responsibility for living
faithfully under God. Our Founding Fathers wanted us to look toward God and be
a self-governing people. Will we?
Do we want to be governed over? Do we want rulers who serve themselves?
Do we want to be servants? Or do we want something better?
Just as ancient Israel’s rejection of self-governance led to their fall,
so can our embrace of it bring the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity.
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