“When you saw that Nachash the king of the people of ‘Amon was attacking you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us‘ — when Adonai your God was your king.”-1 Samuel 12:12
So verse 12 in chapter 12 of 1st Samuel gives us a juicy piece of info.
We’re told the reason the Israelites requested a king was because Nachash, the king of Amon, was threatening Israel.
These threats so frightened the northern alliance of tribal leaders that they decided they needed a king to protect them from gentile hostility.
This sheds a lot of light on just how trapped and hopeless Israel felt at the time.
The Philistines were being aggressive in the west…
And Nachash was confronting Israel from the east.
So there was nothing contrived or exaggerated about Israel’s fears of being attacked.
They really felt like if they didn’t soon transition over to a monarchy form of government, they’d be toast.
Now, just because their fears were well-founded, this doesn’t mean Israel was justified in rejecting God as king and choosing an earthly ruler instead.
They were not.
And this leads us to our takeaway for today.
Whenever you find yourself in a pinch like the Israelites did here in 1st Samuel, you have two choices.
You can choose a gentile solution…
Or you can choose a Hebrew solution.
Unfortunately, here in 1st Samuel, the Israelites chose the gentile solution to their problems, which was to install an earthly ruler patterned after what the goyim (gentile nations) had.
What would be the modern-day equivalent of a believer choosing gentile solutions to his or her problems?
The answer to that question varies depending on the person and situation.
What or who do you turn to for peace besides God when a frightening challenge arises in your life?
I myself have turned to…
Pornography…
New Agey self-help books or gurus that promise me I can control my outside reality by controlling my thoughts…
Overeating…
How about you?
Who or what have you turned to besides God when the going got tough?
I turned inside, taking control of whatever I could (not always in the most honest way), and avoiding what it was that was causing me the problems, as best as I could.
One of the most damaging lies the Devil ever came up with, besides the lie that he doesn’t exist, is the one that goes:
“God helps those who help themselves.”
The truth is God helps those who seek his help, not their own. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything but pray: no, God is a God of action, not sitting around waiting for him to do it all.
We need to walk in faith, which means go where we want to go, and trust in God that he will be walking with us, clearing the way ahead and placing hedges and rocks on either side of us to help us stay on the proper path.
Hey great comment Steve! I loved how you flipped the notion of “God helps those who help themselves.” on its head.
“God helps those who seek His help, not their own”.
I like that so much better.
Thanks for sharing, as always.
Be blessed!
I first heard that saying from my father when I was about 10.
The county had replaced some timbers in the bridge near our farm, and I was helping him load the old ones on a wagon to take home for firewood.
But the lie never settled in me, because he paused, then added “and God help those who get caught helping themselves”
After Jesus saved me years later, I learnt to be grateful for the stewardship of the Law (Catholic version – 10 commandments) , which didn’t stop me from helping myself, but taught me to think about consequences before jumping in. Looking back, I’m certain He protected me often from my foolishness.
When the Spirit came, I finally started to learn how to do stuff right the first time. Halleluyah