Samuel’s Grief

Read 1 Samuel 8-11
 
1 Samuel 8:5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
 
IT is a sad day when the people of God want to be like “all the other nations”. Samuel had led Israel back to God and be safe in the Lord’s commands. He had raised his sons to do the same, and he gave them authority to rule in Israel.
    But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. (1 Samuel 8:3) They became as Eli’s immoral sons to put their people in the line of God’s judgment. When God’s leaders fail, God’s people are in jeopardy. Without godly leaders, people will quickly forget God’s pure ways. They will lose faith in his power to rule and to redeem. Forgetting God, people begin to seek the world’s methods. They allow their minds to consider “new ideas” as the way to live. But they are really the pathway to death.
    The elders’ solution, then, was not to seek God’s redemptive rule but to appoint a worldly ruler. We have already seen how such self-rule caused their captivity to the Philistines. Now this rejection of God’s hand on them will once again draw Israel into a long history of captivity. Beginning with Saul, the nation Israel and then the split nations Israel and Judah were ruled mainly by men who left a legacy of idolatry, greed and lust for power.
    Parents, grandparents and family leaders, to you church and community leaders, here is a lesson for you. Why do you think Samuel’s sons rejected their father’s and the Lord’s leadership? Could it be Samuel spent too little time to instruct and lead them? It is difficult to say. Even our heavenly Father lost his children Adam and Eve to sin. The sin nature we inherit from Adam and Eve is a desire to be as God. We want to set our own rules. Our sin nature fills us with lusts that blind us Samson-like to God.  
    But two things are essential to lead a family household. Teach the Word. Live the Word.
    Are you, Leader for Jesus (Yes, each Christian is to lead people to Jesus.), learning and following God’s ways? Reject being as “other households” who live in their own way. Know God’s commands. Trust God is your true King. Live as if God rules your life. This is what the Lord commands.
  
Your Legacy begins with Your Faithful Living.