‘“Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. ‘ - 1 Samuel 8:7 

The Israelite people had God, the I AM, their Creator, the King of Kings ruling them. But that wasn’t enough, they wanted a king: a limited, flawed human instead. They wanted someone they could see, someone they could understand themselves.

Samuel, at God’s direction, explains what having a human king would mean: giving up their sons and daughters, giving up their crops and flocks, giving up their servants, and even becoming servants of this king.

God gave them over to their desires.

We may say “I’d never do that”, and we believe it.

“I’d never choose someone else to rule my life but you Jesus"

“Lord, I want you to rule my life, to guide and direct me.”

I’ve said, sang, prayed, cried this countless times.

And then...

I pull an “Israelite”, I pull a “human”. I forget what I said, I pull back on what I said and I live what I want to live, how I want to live. I seek my comforts, my pleasures first.

They sneak in like kings, like rulers in my life.

I can’t stop to read the Bible right now, I need to watch Netflix. I have to clear the red dots on my phone. I have to see what others are saying about anything in Facebook and Twitter. I have to see what latest photos are shared on Instagram. I need my coffee before I can do anything. 

These things guide my time.

They guide what I do, push me away from God. I do this at the cost of spending time with God. I let other things like rule my time. Our time is a rare and precious commodity, and I waste it.

These things aren’t bad, but when they consume us, drive us, when we yearn to do it over yearning to know God more, to being close to him, it becomes a sin. 

‘Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.’ - James 4:17 

I need to have faith that yearning for God: reading His Word, spending time in real fellowship, worship, prayer; is incredibly valuable and increasingly necessary in my day-to-day. The days I get it are awesome and fulfilling. Sadly, they’re few and far between because I let other things rule me. 

I need to give up my pleasures for Him, not because God is a tyrant, but because He wants what’s best for me, and that’s Him!

So if the very best thing for me is to be with God, to focus on Him, to not only believe but trust Him, then these other pleasures are worthless in comparison.

I have to let Him rule,

and say no to the other kings that creep in.

I think Jesus does an epic job in wrapping up what I’m saying here:

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? ‘ - Matthew 16:24–26