Tuesday Devo
Scripture:
1 Samuel 8:10-20
10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. 12 Some will be generals and captains in his army,[a] some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. 13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. 14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle[b] and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. 20 “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. 12 Some will be generals and captains in his army,[a] some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. 13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. 14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle[b] and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. 20 “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
Commentary:
Nothing that Samuel could say had any influence with the elders of Israel, for their minds were made up. Did they expect one of their number to become the first king, and had they a proposal to put forward? If so, they were disappointed, for suggestions were not invited. Samuel’s one concern was to consult Israel’s Lord for direction, and since the Lord directed him to go ahead and make them a king, that was the end of the matter. The conference had completed its agenda, and the elders could return home.
From Israel’s earliest days, God himself had directed his people, revealed his commands and given suitable leaders. Though the monarchy would introduce undesirable social changes, three considerations weighed with the people: i. they wanted to be like all the nations, to have influence and status; ii. they desired that our king may govern us, so lifting responsibility from local leaders and providing a figure-head; iii. and they wanted someone to go out before us and fight our battles, a focal person, already accepted and therefore immediately prepared to lead the army against any invader. But what does the new divine directive say to us?
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 93.
From Israel’s earliest days, God himself had directed his people, revealed his commands and given suitable leaders. Though the monarchy would introduce undesirable social changes, three considerations weighed with the people: i. they wanted to be like all the nations, to have influence and status; ii. they desired that our king may govern us, so lifting responsibility from local leaders and providing a figure-head; iii. and they wanted someone to go out before us and fight our battles, a focal person, already accepted and therefore immediately prepared to lead the army against any invader. But what does the new divine directive say to us?
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 93.
Questions:
Israel wanted a king, and they wanted him now.
They had already decided what they needed. Samuel warned them about the cost. He told them exactly what this king would take from them, yet they refused to reconsider. Their response was blunt: “No! But there shall be a king over us” (1 Samuel 8:19). They weren't asking God to lead them. They were telling God what they wanted Him to do.
“NOW” can be just as disobedient as “NO.”
Waiting has a way of exposing our need for control. When God doesn't answer the prayer on our timeline, we start looking for a way to make something happen ourselves. We call it being proactive. But sometimes we're not moving forward in faith. We're trying to escape the discomfort of waiting.
God is not careless with our waiting. He can use it to bring us to the end of ourselves, to loosen our grip on the outcome and teach us to depend on Him. Jesus fully understood what it meant to live according to the Father's timing. Galatians 4:4 tells us that He came “when the fullness of time had come.” Jesus wasn't late. He wasn't scrambling to make God's plan happen. He trusted the Father completely.
Our unanswered prayer is not a sign that God has forgotten us. God is still working even when we cannot see the movement.
They had already decided what they needed. Samuel warned them about the cost. He told them exactly what this king would take from them, yet they refused to reconsider. Their response was blunt: “No! But there shall be a king over us” (1 Samuel 8:19). They weren't asking God to lead them. They were telling God what they wanted Him to do.
“NOW” can be just as disobedient as “NO.”
Waiting has a way of exposing our need for control. When God doesn't answer the prayer on our timeline, we start looking for a way to make something happen ourselves. We call it being proactive. But sometimes we're not moving forward in faith. We're trying to escape the discomfort of waiting.
God is not careless with our waiting. He can use it to bring us to the end of ourselves, to loosen our grip on the outcome and teach us to depend on Him. Jesus fully understood what it meant to live according to the Father's timing. Galatians 4:4 tells us that He came “when the fullness of time had come.” Jesus wasn't late. He wasn't scrambling to make God's plan happen. He trusted the Father completely.
Our unanswered prayer is not a sign that God has forgotten us. God is still working even when we cannot see the movement.
- What are you currently waiting for God to change, provide, or reveal? Be honest about what you believe finally getting that thing would give you. What deeper desire is attached to the answer you are asking God for?
- Think about how you've responded because the waiting has lasted longer than you wanted. Has it affected your attitude, your prayers, your relationships, or the choices you've made? What has the waiting brought out of you that you may not have noticed before?
- Israel wanted something visible and immediate because they didn't want to keep depending on God for what they could not see. What are you being asked to trust about God right now that you cannot yet see or understand? How does remembering His character change the way you hold that unanswered prayer?
- Waiting on God does not mean putting your life on hold. There are things He has already called you to do while you wait. What responsibility, relationship, habit, or act of obedience do you need to follow through on, even though you don't know how or when God will answer the thing you're waiting for?
Prayer Topics:
- Confess the times when you have demanded God for an immediate answer rather than trust His timing.
- Ask God to help you surrender the timeline you have created and give you patience to remain faithful while you wait.
- Ask God to give you wisdom to know the difference between faithful obedience and trying to take control.
- Thank Jesus for perfectly trusting the Father's timing and for accomplishing our salvation at exactly the right time.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
3. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Since “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the fine for my sin so I could be right with God.
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
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