When we ask God for a King

In my personal quiet time, I’ve been reading through the Old Testament. When I reached 1 Samuel last week it was hard to turn a page without being overcome with conviction.

I’ve always known the story of David and Goliath and heard how inconsistent the Israelites were in their faithfulness toward God. But reading the account straight through and watching how God responded… it was pretty powerful.

In 1 Samuel 7, the Israelites were in the midst of consistent battles with the Philistines. The Lord had just forgiven the Israelites for worshiping foreign gods. They repented of their idolatry, so God prevented the Philistines from taking over Israel’s land.

Verses 5-9 of that chapter say:

“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them…Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

“They have rejected Me.” Wow. How gracious is our God? Despite the hurt/anger caused from being rejected by His own people, His own creation, God tells Samuel to warn the Israelites of the consequences of their decision first.

Samuel warned the Israelites, and in verse 19 it says:

“But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 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.”

The word that comes to my mind is defiance. God knew the truth; He is the truth.  He knows all things. He sees all things and in Him all things hold together. And yet, when He warns His people, they have the audacity to look at Him, and say, “No!” … like somehow they knew better than God what they needed. How often are we guilty of this?

“there shall be a king over us, that we may also be like all the nations.”

So, that’s where their defiance came from? They wanted to be just like everyone else? The God of the universe was fighting the Israelites’ battles for them, and yet they wanted a flawed, human king instead. How often do we compare our lives to the people around us and think we’re missing out on something? How often do we look to the left or to the right and convince ourselves that we need someone/something besides the Lord to fight our battles for us?

The story continues. 1 Samuel 12:8 says:

“But they forgot the LORD their God. And He sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. And they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD our God.”

Along with their new king, the leader they thought they needed, came defeat. The Israelites quickly remembered that God was the One in command. God was the One fighting their battles for them… and they realized that what they’d wanted wasn’t at all what they needed.

Even after their huge mistake, the Israelites called out to the Lord for help, and He heard them and delivered them.

In verses 20-24, Samuel encouraged the Israelites and said to them:

“Do not be afraid; though you have done all this evil. Do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for Himself…Only fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things He has done for you.”

I don’t know where you find yourself reading this; Maybe you’ve recently asked God for a “king.” Maybe you’ve given into the lie that God alone was not enough for you.

It’s mind-blowing how easily we can “forget the LORD our God” and look for something or someone else to bring us victory. How often do we “turn to the right or left and pursue empty things”? Things like vanity, success, wealth, or human approval? It’s amazing how patient God is through those times and how He reveals His glory and power in our lives. And if we repent, He graciously forgives us.

“the LORD will not forsake His people…it pleased the LORD to make you a people for Himself.” It pleased Him to make us His own. That will never stop amazing me!  When we ask for forgiveness, He hears us!

“Only fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart.” – THIS is our call. That’s all we have to do. We don’t have to figure out every single detail or attempt to manipulate the crazy circumstances in our lives. All we have to do is fear and faithfully serve the Lord, and He will take care of the rest.

“For consider what great things He has done for you.” Tears come to my eyes as I reflect on that verse. Oh, what great things He has done for me! Our God is so faithful, despite our unfaithfulness. We all have different stories to tell, different accounts of what great things He has done…how He has redeemed us.

If you’re currently at war within yourself, believing that worldly things, such as beauty, fame, success, wealth or human approval, will grant you victory…remember these things are powerless! The LORD is your Deliverer. He is your Redeemer. He is your King.

“For the Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’” ~ Deuteronomy 20:4

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will shape the desires of your heart.” ~ Psalm 37:4

 

 

 

 

 

When I see You

So often when problems and struggles come my way, the pain of it consumes me. I have a hard time finding perspective and context when I’m overwhelmed with circumstances present in my life in the moment. But, then I remember to look to Jesus.

I’ve been learning that when my eyes are fixed on Jesus, the pain and struggle that I am experiencing fades in comparison to the glory and compassion of Jesus. I’m reminded of the old hymn, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glorious grace.”

In the face of temptation, look to Jesus. When experiencing loss, look to Jesus. In the midst of physical pain, look to Jesus. When you don’t know what the future holds, look to Jesus. When fear assails and darkness falls, look to Jesus.

 He is our hope.

I wrote and recorded this song about three years ago after a season of truly understanding what it means to look to Jesus.

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” ~ Hebrews 12:2-3

A great place to find devotionals is shereadstruth.com, and they wrote a great article on what it means to fix our eyes on Jesus. I recommend checking it out!

Nobody Said it was Easy

Recently I was reading through some journals that I’d written over the past five years. I was blown away by all the times that I had been concerned with something, but the Lord saved me and delivered me beyond what I could have hoped.

Those problems felt like my whole world at the time. I can still remember the nights I prayed over those situations and poured out my heart to God, asking for His deliverance.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget the context of our lives. Every trial and every situation that comes up may seem new and daunting, but if we remember the places that God has brought us out of in the past, we should never falter in our trust for Him!

Our God is so good and so faithful. There are things in life that we will never completely understand until we see Jesus face to face. But I do know from experience that there are also many situations where God has answered and shown me reasons for a trial.

I don’t want to be the kind of person who dreads or fears a challenge ahead with a complaining spirit. I want to be the person who grabs a hold of my Savior’s hand with unconditional trust. I want to follow the Lord, praising Him all the way.

It may not be easy, but I’d rather embrace life for the ups and downs instead of running from what’s hard.

Is anybody else up for the challenge?
“I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” ~Psalm 34:1-4♥

Dying to Live

I am afraid of being ordinary.

I take a look around, a long look in the mirror, and I see routine. Is it just me, or do we let “what happens happen” far too often?

Sitting in church, I’m easily motivated to spend more time loving people. I actually get pretty pumped about it. But before I know it, it’s 8 a.m. and I’m half awake with spilled coffee all over my jeans. I scramble outside, throw my bags into the car, and race to class. I awkwardly crawl over an aisle of desks, sit down, and pray that our quiz will be canceled. I doodle on my notebook, survive Biology, and head out to meet my friends. I check my phone as I walk through the hallways and spend the rest of my day thinking about what I’ll eat, what homework to accomplish, and strategically figure out how to spend as much time with my friends as possible amidst my class and work schedule. And there you have it, my routine.

I didn’t look to the right or to the left; I plowed straight ahead, focused on myself and what I wanted. But, at the end of the day, what did I accomplish? Who did I help? What did I change? It’s not that I didn’t have good intentions; I just didn’t act intentionally.

I heard this quote in church recently: “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” In order to accomplish something, we have to live with purpose. Lofty goals, distant dreams, and good intentions mean nothing if we don’t start working to accomplish them today. Desiring to spend more time in the Word won’t happen if we don’t set our alarms earlier. We say we want to love on people around us, but it won’t happen if we keep our faces in our phones and don’t look up.

To succeed in the long run, we have to be diligent in the small things. We have to be willing to change. We have to be open to the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to take on the whole world at once, but we start with small steps. If we keep our eyes open minute-by-minute for what the Lord has for us, trust me, we will find the extraordinary.

I want to get over myself for the sake of someone else. I want to put aside my silly momentary desires for a greater cause. At the end of my life when I go to heaven, I won’t be able to bring anything with me, except for those people that were on my right and on my left. I want to be so in tune with the Holy Spirit that when He says, “move”, I move, and when He says, “Go love that person”, I go and love that person.

Isaiah 30:21 says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a Voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

There is a difference between existing and living. I think it’s related to the difference between intentions and action.

So, honestly, intentions aside, what are we doing?

In Matthew 16:24, Jesus says to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Me.” In order to truly follow Christ, we must die to ourselves on a daily basis. Simply put, we have to let go of our plan and submit ourselves to God’s plan. Not necessarily because what we desire is wrong, but because God has so much more for us.

So yes, the Christian life requires sacrifice. God may ask us to let go of something we desperately wanted to hold on to. But, guys, this is where it happens. This is where we trade ordinary for extraordinary.

As C.S. Lewis put it, “It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.”

So, this is a big decision. Do we want safe? Do we want ordinary? Or are we willing to go where God is calling us?

Before we let that little voice in our head convince us that what we want is more important than what God has planned, we have to realize the cost. John 5:24 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

This is a matter of life or death for you and for the people around you. The truth of the gospel that you hold in your heart has the ability to SAVE LIVES. God wants to use YOU to bring life into the lives around you.

So the question is…. What are you going to do about that?

Our world is dying to live.