1 Samuel 8 & Obama's Economic Scheme

[S F Lord]

Jan Markell from Olive Tree Ministries talked about 1 Samuel 8 and the Israelites wanting Samuel to appoint a King for them.

This was on her website yesterday.

archive.constantcontact.com/fs019/1101818841456/archive/1102310504364.html

After reading further in Chpt 8 you come upon Gods response to their request. God has Samuel warn them as to what the new king will be like. When you read verses 11-18 you think you might be hearing Obamas re-distribution plan. He (Saul) will take you vineyard and give it to someone else.

Striking that America had a choice between, what I would call, Good or Evil. Like chpt 8 you can have the God of your forefathers lead you or a person in the form of a king. It appears that we might have chosen the latter.

I don't think it was any accident that Sarah Palin was part of this choice. Someone who was a truly Born Again christian. She stood on the platform with a child that is many cases could have/would have been aborted. This is one of many examples that could be mentioned.

Verse 18 is a sobering thought for America in whatever time we have.

When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

[Keith]

Jan does good work, thanks brother Bob. She's absolutely right, after he's been in office for awhile the American electorate will realize the mistake they've made. Unfortunately, it'll be too late to do anything about it...

[heart]

This does encourage me to pray more and more for our country and the world. Especially those in power that the Holy Spirit will guide them.

[charlescameron]

Some notes on 1 Samuel 8-14
8:1-9:10- Israel’s demand for a king did not arise from love for God. It was motivated by human pride (8:5,20). Having ‘rejected’the Lord as King, the people made their choice. They did not choose for God! They ‘chose for themselves’(8:7,18). God allowed them to have their king but He did not approve of their choice (22,18). Humanly speaking, Saul was well qualified (9:2). There was, however, something tragic about Saul’s reign. From the very outset, it was rushing headlong to its inevitable outcome: ‘I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly’(26:21). ‘He gave them what they asked, but He sent a wasting disease among them’(Psalm 106:15). Saul did more harm than good. There was not much blessing during Saul’s reign. God had greater things in store for Israel - but not until Saul’s reign was over!
9:11-10:16- The Lord is King: We must never forget this. A human king is no substitute for the divine King (8:7). God was not pleased with His people. They wanted to be ‘like all the nations’(8:5). God refused to abandon His people. They wanted a king. He gave them their king (15-17). He would wait patiently for His people to make a whole-hearted return to Him. The Lord would wait patiently until ‘a man after His own heart’would rule over ‘His people’(13:14). A human king must never forget the divine King. He must not become ‘too big for his boots’. He must not impose his own will. He must submit to God’s will. This is what it means to be ‘a man after God’s own heart’- ‘Not my will but Thine be done’, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’(Luke 22:44; Matthew 6:10).
10:17-11:15- Everyone was so happy - ‘Long live the king! (24). Everything seemed to be so promising - ‘The Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul’(6). God’s people were victorious (11). God’s people ‘rejoiced greatly’(15). This is not, however, the whole story. Things were to get worse, much worse - ‘You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from Him who calls you’(Galatians 5:7-8). Remember the parable of the sower: ‘Satan immediately comes and takes away the Word... When tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately they fall away... The cares of the world and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the Word, and it proves unfruitful’(Mark 4:15,17,19). Pray - ‘Deliver us from evil’(Matthew 6:13).
12:1-13:15a- To the king as well as the people, God speaks in promise and warning: ‘If both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well... If you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord... then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king’(12:14-15). Samuel was not afraid to speak very directly to the king - ‘You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God... Your kingdom shall not continue’(13:13-14). Saul’s reign was about to end. God’s love continued: ‘The Lord will not cast away His people, for His great Name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for Himself’(12:22). Saul had become too full of himself and his own importance. He needed to be replaced by ‘a man after God’s own heart’(13:14). To the divine King be allthe glory!
13:15b-14:23- Humanly speaking, Israel seemed to be ‘no hopers’(13:22). There was, however, something else. The Lordwas with His people and He would give them the victory (14:6,19,12,23). There is a very important lesson for us here: ‘The weapons of our warfare are not worldly’. We are to ‘put on the whole armour of God’(2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Ephesians 6:11-13). The victory does not come from our own strength. It comes from the Lord (Psalms 21:16; 21:7). In all our difficulties, we say, with faith, ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?... In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’(Romans 8:31,37). Do you want to have this strong faith which rejoices in the Lord, even when life is very difficult? - ‘Wait on the Lord and renew your strength’(Isaiah 40:31).
14:24-52- Making mistakes - it’s part of life for all of us: ‘We all make mistakes. If any one makes no mistakes... he is a perfect man’(James 3:2). What are we to make of the ‘mistakes’made by Saul and Jonathan? Saul’s ‘mistake’was an error of judgment which ‘troubled the land’(24,29). Jonathan’s ‘mistake’was unfortunate. In the wrong place at the wrong time, he ‘had not heard’what had been going on before he arrived on the scene (27). It was almost his last ‘mistake’(43-44)! How are we to react to our mistakes? We can be like Saul or we can learn from our mistakes. Digging in his heels, Saul blundered on from one ‘mistake’to another. He acted like he was the ‘perfect man’who never makes ‘mistakes’. He had got it wrong, and he was the last to see it (44-45)! May God help us to learn from our mistakes!