“The biggest lie promoted by various of our social institutions-and this in some ways plays into our human nature and our sin of laziness-is that we're here to be happy all the time.”
- M. Scott Peck
1 SAMUEL 7-9
6But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7And 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. 8As 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. 9Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”...19Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”21Samuel listened to all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the LORD.22“Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.
10On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”15The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.LUKE 13:1-21
JOURNAL
Everything comes at a cost...the saying "you can't have your cake and eat it too" is so true of life and is represented over and over throughout scripture. The Israelites desire for a King, comes with a cost. God's desire to heal and save his people comes with a cost. Willingly accepting the cost and accepting the price of obedience is necessary cost in following Christ.
There is a key phrase in Samuel “We must have a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles. The Israelites seemed to forget all that God had done for them, all that he had brought them through and instead wanted to be like the other Kingdoms that they had been defeating and destroying. This makes no sense but in really thinking about it...it's human nature, we want what we do not have and we want to be like others rather than being content with who we are.
There is a key phrase in Samuel “We must have a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles. The Israelites seemed to forget all that God had done for them, all that he had brought them through and instead wanted to be like the other Kingdoms that they had been defeating and destroying. This makes no sense but in really thinking about it...it's human nature, we want what we do not have and we want to be like others rather than being content with who we are.
It is also a symptom of mental illness when we continually refuse to take responsibility and "long" for someone or something to "fix" our problems. I know in my early years as a believer I wanted this from God. I didn't want to take responsibility for things and actually yearned for God to fix everything and take away all the pain and frustration in my life. What I've learned over the years is that God is not our "magic genie". We surrender to him and serve him and in return he gives us purpose and joy. But he's not here to take away all the pain and problems for us...we are promised a new world, but in the meantime...we will continually work in the midst of pain and suffering.
Yet from my own experience and I believe what scripture continually confirms is that when we trust God through the difficulty, it is transformed into a kind of joy which is unexplainable and transformative. Scripture refers to this as "carrying our cross".
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
LUKE 14:25-27
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