You are My King

Scripture: And the Lord told Samuel: “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.” ... Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us.” 1 Samuel 8:7,10-19

Observation: The people have a choice - to be ruled by God who protects them, loves them, guides them, and blesses them ... or to be ruled by a man who will use them, harm them, take from them, and command them.  They - of course - choose the be ruled by a man.

Application: Everyone has this choice every day. We all choose whether we want God to rule our lives, or whether we want to reject God. When we reject God, we choose someone else to rule us. It may be a friend, or an enemy, or Satan, or ... ourselves. Making life or behavioral choices that are contrary to God mean we have chosen our own selfish desires or allowed ourselves to be influenced by some other person's opinion or expectation.

Why do we all do this? Why do I do this? Every day, I make choices I know are more aligned to my poor thoughts or earthly way, and that I know are not aligned to God. When I do God himself says I am rejecting him as my king, and the result will be that I will be a victim of some other person.

In that context, it is inexplicable to ever choose anything but God. Therefore, this is a critical context to remember - choosing God as my king gives me a blessed life, and choosing others or myself as the king of my life brings me harm.

Prayer: God, I choose you as my king. I hope to begin making that choice more and more obvious with my daily choices about what I do, what I say, where I go, how I behave. You are my king.