Westside Church of Christ

They should have known better. After all, they were the elder statesmen among the Israelites. They had experience. They had been around the block a time or two, but they made the worst possible decision. They wanted to be like everybody else (1 Samuel 8:4-5), and they told Samuel. He didn’t like it, not one bit, and He took His concerns to the Lord.

He was an old man by then, and he had appointed his sons to be judges which was not a good idea. Those two apples had fallen a great distance from the honorable tree. They exploited their position for financial gain, and their rulings reflected it. Justice went to the highest bidder, and they pocketed the profits. All of that left such a bad taste in the mouth of the elders that they asked for a king. Everybody else had one, why not them?

Surprisingly, God did not immediately refuse their request. Their attitude was nothing new. They had been a rebellious bunch for a long time. In fact, He told Samuel to listen to them, and warn them of the dire consequences that would follow such a decision. It would be a catastrophe. Their children would be exploited. The king would take all of their best products for his servants and soldiers. It would be an absolute mess.

They would come to regret their desire to be like everybody else, and the worst part would be the cutting off of communication with God. The time would come when their situation would become unbearable, and they would plead with Him for relief but it would fall on deaf ears. Three times the Lord told Jeremiah not to pray for those people, because He would not listen (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14 and 14:11).

It is a vivid and painful lesson from history that has been repeated far too often. It is a total and utter disaster whenever God’s people want to be like everybody else. The Israelite elders reacted to evil leadership to make the demand. It did not work. There is no motive that will produce good results from seeking to mimic our neighbors.

The issues that are being debated within the communities of faith now are astonishing. There is controversy over abortion. There is discussion about homosexuality and same sex marriage. The ways of the world are being adopted into more and more of the contemporary churches. Is a group that bends to culture actually the Lord’s blood-bought church?

The word of God could not be clearer about these controversies, and that exposes the real matter. Remember the underlying problem of the Israelites. Have these groups today forgotten that we are a kingdom? Have they also rejected the king. History validates the outcome of such a decision. It is never good. Let us learn from, and not repeat that destructive choice.