God Dethroned

"Hey guys.... we need a king."

"Yeah! A king like the other nations have."

"Exactly. A king we can see with our own eyes! God is invisible."

"Give us a king!"

1 Samuel 8:5-7 (ESV)5 and they said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations."6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us."

And Samuel prayed to the Lord.7 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them."

Have you noticed their desire to be like everyone else meant following in the footsteps of the ungodly people all around them?

Bad idea for them.

Bad idea for us when we do the same thing in our own lives.

Samuel gives them the lowdown.

They'll get their desire.

But they'll face all kinds of tough stuff.

He ends those comments with this:

1 Samuel 8:18 (ESV)" And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day."

Wanting what we want no matter what.

Even if it's obviously not God's will for us.

It affects out spiritual life as well as our physical life.

Hit the rewind button.

Remember the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness?

"We're sick of manna.. we want meat!!!"

God sent so many quail that they ate until it came out of their nostrils.

That wasn't a good thing:

Numbers 11:33 (ESV) " While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. "

The most horrifying answer to prayer is a yes to something God says is off limits:

Psalm 106:14-15 (NKJV)14 "But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert.15 And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul."

Leanness into their soul.

No sense of the presence of Jesus.

No sense of forgiveness.

No peace.

No comfort.

No real joy.

Just the sound of the dust settling in an empty soul.

Lord, I only want what you want for me.

Fill my soul.

With Yourself.