May 28

1 Samuel 8:7 (NIV)
7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

The people wanted a king “like the nations around us”, and God was going to give them one. Samuel did warn them that kings would rule over them and would oppress them, but they didn’t care. They wanted a MAN to govern them and not God. Get this… they were more comfortable with a man leading and ruling than God AND they were more comfortable with what a man may decree than what God had already decreed through the law. They were o.k. with oppression – they just wanted what they wanted. They wanted what everyone else had.

Whatever the convoluted thought process was, God’s heart was hurt. You can hear it in this verse. God’s heart was crushed because His people, His treasured possession were rejecting Him. He goes on to tell Samuel;

1 Samuel 8:8 (NIV)
8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.

God choose them, loved them, delivered them, blessed them, provided for them, and His daily delight wants a man to rule over them and govern them and LEAD them. God’s heart is broken. God feels, He emotes, and when He is rejected, He feels it.

Would you say with me today - I don’t want a man to rule over me Lord, nor a set of laws, I want to be ruled by you. I want you to be my leader, my judge, my everything and not any man INCLUDING ME! You are the one that I need. You are my sustainer and provider of all – to you alone I bow – where else does my salvation come from.