There comes a time when God gets tired of His people that want the things and the ways of the world. When that happens, He gives them what they want, but it is not what He wants.

The people of Israel no longer wanted the prophet Samuel to rule over them. They considered him too old and since Samuel’s sons were not walking with God like their father, they decided they wanted a change. However, not all changes are necessarily good changes.

The prophet Samuel was not happy with the people’s request of “Give us a king to be our judge” (I Samuel 8:6), so Samuel did the only thing He knew to do when He had a problem, he prayed unto the Lord:

“And the Lord said to Samuel, Give ear to the voice of the people and what they say to you: they have not been turned away from you, but they have been turned away from me, not desiring me to be king over them. As they have done from the first, from the day when I took them out of Egypt till this day, turning away from me and worshipping other gods, so now they are acting in the same way to you.” (I Samuel 8:7-8)

God let Samuel know that the people, in reality, were not against him but they were rebelling against God. And so the Lord said to Samuel, “Give ear now to their voice: but make a serious protest to them, and give them a picture of the sort of king who will be their ruler” (verse 9).

God put Samuel down in order to give the people what they wanted, but in so doing, the Lord, through Samuel, let the people know that it was not going to go well for them. Despite the sufferings that would eventually come upon them, the people chose a king who would end up following the ways of the world, rather than a prophet who would get his direction for the people from God Himself.

We must be careful what we desire. If we constantly desire the things that please the flesh and we want to do “what everyone else is doing” and not what God wants us to do, we will find ourselves in a situation where God is not on our side and it will not go well with us.

If we want to protect our minds and hearts and therefore our spiritual life, we need to go to God daily in prayer and let Him search our hearts and remove anything that is not pleasing to Him. Through prayer and the meditation and preaching of the Word of God, we get saved and remain saved. 

Always remember, true prayer is to be in harmony with God and with His will. “Lord, not my will or my desires but only Yours.”

Kathleen Pio Arcidiacono