Thoughts for another day

May 7, 2009.

Today's verse: 1 Sm. 8:7. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In the days following Israel’s exit from Egypt and settling down in Palestine, they were led by God. But then they forgot Him and started doing the very things that the people they drove out from the lands they now occupied, did. Sadly, they didn’t bother about God who had done so much for them. They didn’t even obey His commands to destroy all who earlier occupied the territories they now occupied.

The first direct insult to God was that they worshipped the baals and other gods thus provoking Him. The Word of God says, God did not clear away for them any more of the nations Joshua left when he died. This was so that through those people the Israelites were made to prove whether or not they’d keep and continue in the way of the Lord. The more they sinned, the more trouble they faced from the nations around them; yet when they cried out to the Lord, their Savior, the Lord through a judge He raised for them, delivered them from calamity and pain. But the Israelites never recognized God nor gave Him credit as soon as the event passed. Eventually, they completely forgot the fact that God was their King and they needed to follow Him.

So far was God removed from their minds that they asked Samuel the prophet of God to give them a king, the way other nations had a king. Samuel was distressed because of his communion with God and his recognizing that only the Great I AM could defend them. Our above verse comes to us after he prayed to God. I can see God’s tears as He says the Words. Just the way Jesus’ heart was broken by the callousness of the Jews who crucified Him. But God in His mercy, asked Samuel to do as they said and they got a king.

Now what about us today? Don’t you and I completely disregard God and go to men for solutions? Don’t we close our doors to God when in a crunch and open them to human beings? What about our faith in God, when the sky is gloomy? My friend, the God of the Universe who saved us Himself, will He not pay attention to us when we’re in trouble? Will He not care for us when we take Him to be the King of our lives and cry out to Him? Think and then look up to the LORD. See those gentle eyes calling out and asking you to come!