Pam's Perambulation

We want
what they’ve got.
We want to live
the way they do.
We don’t want God’s ways
we want the way others live.
God is not our King,
we want a human king,
one we can see.
We like the way
others do things.

Are you sure
you want to go that way?
The grass isn’t always greener,
there will be consequences
and a cost.
A human King
is not looking out for you
the way God does.

We know what we want,
we want things our way,
I want my way.
I want to be like them.

Lord,
be king
in me.
May I allow you to rule,
and not my desires.
May my worship be for you,
and I may see your hand,
your presence,
your goodness
and long for that.

1 Samuel 8:4-20 (GNT)

⁴ Then all the leaders of Israel met together, went to Samuel in Ramah, ⁵ and said to him, “Look, you are getting old and your sons don’t follow your example. So then, appoint a king to rule over us, so that we will have a king, as other countries have.” ⁶ Samuel was displeased with their request for a king; so he prayed to the Lord, ⁷ and the Lord said, “Listen to everything the people say to you. You are not the one they have rejected; I am the one they have rejected as their king. ⁸ Ever since I brought them out of Egypt, they have turned away from me and worshiped other gods; and now they are doing to you what they have always done to me. ⁹ So then, listen to them, but give them strict warnings and explain how their kings will treat them.”

¹⁰ Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king everything that the Lord had said to him. ¹¹ “This is how your king will treat you,” Samuel explained. “He will make soldiers of your sons; some of them will serve in his war chariots, others in his cavalry, and others will run before his chariots. ¹² He will make some of them officers in charge of a thousand men, and others in charge of fifty men. Your sons will have to plow his fields, harvest his crops, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. ¹³ Your daughters will have to make perfumes for him and work as his cooks and his bakers. ¹⁴ He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your grapes for his court officers and other officials. ¹⁶ He will take your servants and your best cattle and donkeys, and make them work for him. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks. And you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that time comes, you will complain bitterly because of your king, whom you yourselves chose, but the Lord will not listen to your complaints.”

¹⁹ The people paid no attention to Samuel, but said, “No! We want a king, ²⁰ so that we will be like other nations, with our own king to rule us and to lead us out to war and to fight our battles.”

~ by pamjw on June 2, 2015.

Posted in bible, faith, God, Lectionary, Religion, theology
Tags: 1 Samuel 8:4-20, 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Kingship, wants