Be careful what you ask for...

I have been spending the last few weeks reading through some OT books. I am loving the process of reading through Proverbs every day.

I also am spending some time in I Samuel. I Samuel is really the story of Saul, the first king of Israel. As you read through the first few chapters of the book, you see a people who were bent on worshiping God when it was convienent. But as soon as things were good, they were on their own and God was in the corner. They spent decades under the thumb of the Phillistines and when they finally repented (chapter 7), God rescued them. He defeated the Phillistines and the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel.

Then Israel reverts to thier old ways. Instead of trusting God and believing that God would protect and bless them they decided they wanted to be like all the other nations and have their own king.(I Sam 8:6).

Why did they want this? Well, on the surface it looks like it was because Samuel's successors (his sons), were perveted and dishonest (vs. 3). But in reality it was deeper than that. They wanted to be like everyone else. I Sam 8:20 says, "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."

God warned them... He told them that the King would draft their boys and girls, he would tax them to the gills, and eventually the people would cry out to God for relief (vs. 18). But they still wanted a king. They wanted something different than what they had. They wanted what everyone else had.

Sometimes what you have is exactly what you need. Not all the time, but sometimes. I don't think that "more of the same" is neccesarily best. But I am not sure that all this trumpeting about "change" is healthy either. We are in the middle of the longest and most costly poltical season in our nations history. Candidates for President are over working the "change" theme. Everything is about change. They come in with new programs, new ideas, new ways of getting to the same place. Candidates and their wives are on news shows, variety shows, late night TV shows,and even afternoon talk shows. All of them are trumpeting change.

I think also country would do very well to "be careful what we ask for." We just might get it.... change. But change to what? "Change agents" throw around how they want to change things, but do not say exactly what it is, or how much it will cost, or how we will pay for it. I fear that in 4 or 8 years we will be looking for a new candidate of "change". The difference will be that he/she will have to clean up the mess from the this last round of change.

It is a critical time in our country. I wish we could have educated debate on where we need to go. And if I could ask for one thing, it would be that we would have candidates and campaigns that would sincerely look to God for wisdom. Maybe the place to star would be with Proverbs...( full circle there).

Read through 1st Samuel... You will notice that the predictions and warnings of God came true. Its the same today for all of us... God knows...