REJECTING GOD (17 OF 52)
Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4-18
This content is part of a series.
Rejecting God (17 of 52)
Series: Discipleship Part Three
Christopher B. Harbin
1 Samuel 8:4-18
Leadership is a difficult concept for us. We seek out leaders who embody our ideals, yet all too often those ideals are at great odds with God's purposes for our lives. We lift up people as role models who are all too often unworthy of our attention, much less emulation. Instead of seeking God's leadership in our lives, we want to follow our own paths, for which we select leaders who simply do not embody God's character. Then when things go south, we have the audacity to wonder how we got in the mess we find ourselves in. Why do we find it so difficult to follow God, the God we claim to honor and serve? Why do we refuse the leadership of those who embody the character of Christ Jesus?
Ancient Israel had the same struggles. The did not want to hitch their wagon to some nebulous concept of those who would rise up to speak for Yahweh and lead the people in times of crisis. Samuel had done well in leading them and speaking on behalf of Yahweh, but his sons were not seemingly cut of the same cloth. The nation's short history was filled with an array of characters who had led them well and poorly, rising to the challenge with mixed results and mixed dedication to serve the purposes of Yahweh and the good of the nation.
The people yearned for something different. They wanted a more reliable structure. They looked around to the other nations and determined that having a king was the way to go. Instead of relying on God to raise up a leader to assemble the nation to respond to crises, they wanted a defined leader to whom they might point and on whom they might lay the responsibility for national security and progress. Rather than trusting Yahweh to provide needed leadership, they wanted someone they could entrust with their security needs, as well as standing for them before Yahweh apart from the priests and prophets whose responsibilities did not include leading arm ...
Series: Discipleship Part Three
Christopher B. Harbin
1 Samuel 8:4-18
Leadership is a difficult concept for us. We seek out leaders who embody our ideals, yet all too often those ideals are at great odds with God's purposes for our lives. We lift up people as role models who are all too often unworthy of our attention, much less emulation. Instead of seeking God's leadership in our lives, we want to follow our own paths, for which we select leaders who simply do not embody God's character. Then when things go south, we have the audacity to wonder how we got in the mess we find ourselves in. Why do we find it so difficult to follow God, the God we claim to honor and serve? Why do we refuse the leadership of those who embody the character of Christ Jesus?
Ancient Israel had the same struggles. The did not want to hitch their wagon to some nebulous concept of those who would rise up to speak for Yahweh and lead the people in times of crisis. Samuel had done well in leading them and speaking on behalf of Yahweh, but his sons were not seemingly cut of the same cloth. The nation's short history was filled with an array of characters who had led them well and poorly, rising to the challenge with mixed results and mixed dedication to serve the purposes of Yahweh and the good of the nation.
The people yearned for something different. They wanted a more reliable structure. They looked around to the other nations and determined that having a king was the way to go. Instead of relying on God to raise up a leader to assemble the nation to respond to crises, they wanted a defined leader to whom they might point and on whom they might lay the responsibility for national security and progress. Rather than trusting Yahweh to provide needed leadership, they wanted someone they could entrust with their security needs, as well as standing for them before Yahweh apart from the priests and prophets whose responsibilities did not include leading arm ...
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