Today, many of us have so much access to so many things. Access to information, access to people around the world, and much more.
Having access can be good and bad.
Let’s say you have some type of physical symptoms. In the past, we may have scheduled an appointment and gone to the doctor to have it checked out.
What do we do today? Now we simply GOOGLE IT! That in and of itself can be good or bad.
That could be good in that we can rectify it with perhaps a vitamin. But what if it’s more serious. Will we perhaps misdiagnose ourselves, and start believing something that God didn’t intend?
Let’s see if the children of Israel misdiagnosed their situation in
1 Samuel 8:1-21 NIV
1When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord.
Even though Samuel told the children of Israel all of the things that would happen, they still chose to want a king. They wanted to be like everybody else.
Do we do the same thing as Christians today? From the very beginning God, Himself desired to be our King, but many of us want to be like everybody else, we choose the small kings of the world.
Rather than going directly to God for our answers, we go to our bosses, our leaders, our pastors, our mentors, our friends, or whoever.
I believe we are inadvertently looking for a savior instead of the Savior.
Now let me be clear, God has given us gifts to the body of Christ.
Look at Ephesians 4:11 NIV
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…
He’s also given us people like mentors and the like to help us along our journey. Never discount that people He has placed in your life.
But are we looking for these gifts to equip us for service, or have we put them in the place of the true and living God?
You are NOT an orphan no matter your earthly status. If you know Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord, you belong to the family of God.
Be careful of putting people in the place of God. What have these small kings taken from you? Know this: these small kings won’t be able to measure up, EVER.
I was in service one day, and someone was speaking, and they made this comment, “I’m more afraid of the pastor than Jesus!” Everyone started laughing including me. I stopped immediately, but the laughter continued.
How far have we strayed away from our King when we have put people before Him?
Yet we sing songs like, “Let all the other names fade away…” Have we let them fade away…
We think, “We’ll surely, I’m not serving other gods. Are you sure? They may not be the mainstream gods, but have you made someone else a god?
Listen, He rent the veil for us. We can go directly to God for ourselves. Don’t replace the King with a king. Keep everybody in their place.
Having FULL access to the King of the universe, now that’s the point of purpose. See you next time.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thank you! https://bit.ly/youtubepointsofpurposewithanita