Originally, the Kingdom of Israel was not intended to have a human king.  God’s plan was to make Israel a “priestly kingdom and holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).  God wanted Israel to be focused not necessarily on worldly goals and anxieties, rather God wanted them to focus on holiness.  This did not mean they were without a leader, for God would be the king of their lives.  In His infinite wisdom, God foresaw that though that would be the ideal, the people would not be able to handle the lack of a king and ruler over them.  He gave them a list of rules when they “decide to have king rule over you like all the surrounding nations” (Deuteronomy 17:14).  It was a concession by God that did not initially happen.  As we have seen, judges led Israel back to God time and time again.  When we get to the first book of Samuel, something has changed.  Samuel the prophet appointed his own sons to be judges, but they were corrupt and terrible leaders.  They had followed the priest Eli and his terrible sons as leaders.  Israel was tired of poor leadership and decided to have a king, but was it a good idea?

              Initially, the prophet Samuel was upset the people asked for a king, but God called him to not be offended for “they have rejected me (God) from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).  Though the people may be tired of poor leadership from priests and judges, the real issue lies in their lack of placing God as king of their lives.  We saw it in the wandering of the desert; we saw it with Joshua and the reaching of the Promised Land; and we saw it consistently with the judges.  The people went astray from God time and time again.  They followed their own hearts and not the commands and calling of God.  The culmination is them asking for a king, which requires us to ponder: who is the king and ruler of our own lives?  Is it God?  Is it another person, like a political leader?  Or have we appointed ourselves as king?  It was not that the people wanted a king instead of God.  They wanted to appoint themselves king.

              Though God saw the dangers of the people having a king, He still chooses a king for the people.  I believe the reason for this stems from the plan God has for the future of the kingship to ultimately lead His people back to Himself.  I also believe it is God looking at humanity and stating that He trusts us to discover Him through our free will.  God does not want to force us to make Him king.  He does not seek to rule our lives by power.  God wants to rule our lives out of love, and we sometimes have to go on a journey to discover that.  God will also redeem us through a King who will come later.

              Samuel gives the people one last warning (Samuel 8:9).  The king will ultimately lead Israel to apostasy and idolatry to be like the nations around them.  The king will take their sons and make them soldiers for his conquests; the king will appoint himself as the commander and dictator of decisions for the nation; the king will in many ways enslave their daughters to serve him in his palace; the king will take the best food from the people’s crops and herds. God warned, “you shall be his slaves” (1 Samuel 8:17).  In many ways, the king will make himself into the god of the people and replace the one true God.  The people ignored Samuel’s warning and proclaimed, “we will have a king over us” (1 Samuel 8:19).  The people freely chose this for themselves despite the warnings of God. 

              We absolutely fall into this trap in our lives.  God gives us warnings and tries to guide us to Himself, yet we ignore the warnings because we tell ourselves, “It will be different for me.”  Yet it is rarely different for us – if ever.  God warns us, yet we fall into sin.  God warns us, yet we give into our own desires.  God warns us, and we appoint another to be the king in our lives.  Sin is appointing ourselves king of our lives.  But that is not the only place we fall into the trap of a king.  It is even clear from the politics in our country today that many people view certain leaders as the ultimate authority in their lives.  I do want to note that there are many good politicians and leaders who help our country and world, but there are some who have a cult or ideological following that surpasses quality leadership.  The way we should always measure leadership from a spiritual perspective is to ask ourselves: Does this leader – in all that he or she does – lead me closer to God or justify my own self-centered beliefs?  The ones who only lead us to our own self-centered beliefs are simply the personification of a modern form of idolatry.  Those who lead us closer to God may have authority over us, but they humbly recognize the ultimate goal is heaven and God is the true leader.

              That leaves us with the most important question:  Who is the king in our lives?  In our world today, we have so many choices from which to choose.  We can choose ourselves and seek only to satisfy our own narcissistic needs by passing judgment on others as it fits our subjective mindset.  It can be another, like a political leader, who says the things that speak to us but only resonate to our own self interests.  Or, we can choose God to be the final and definitive leader in our lives, and through Him we gravitate to those leaders who represent God and point us closer to where God is seeking to lead us.  Who is our king?