When the Israelites were delivered out of Egyptian slavery, God brought them to Mount Sinai and established the new nation. He gave them laws to follow, tithes (taxes) to pay, and He established Himself as their King. However, once they settled into the promised land, they got to looking around at all of their neighbors and they said ‘How come we can see their kings, but we can’t see ours?’ So they went to the prophet Samuel and said
“Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the [other] nations…And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” 1 Samuel 8:5-7 (italics added)
It’s easy to say, ‘Man, those Israelites were so ignorant and ungrateful. They had the best and most perfect king that could ever be and they got rid of Him just so that they could be like everyone else around them. What imbeciles!!”
But are we so different? God is our King and he gives us laws to follow so that we can have the best and most perfect life. But yet we often reject Him and His law because we want to be like everyone else around us. Maybe we desire to have the same possessions that they do, or we see how happy they are living for themselves, or we just don’t want to be the only one who’s not doing (fill in the blank).
When the Israelites decided to be like everyone else instead of going with the way that God designed it, they got what they asked for: they got earthly kings and looked just like the rest of the world. This is what eventually led to the nation being torn apart and ultimately defeated.
Praise God as your King no matter what your neighbors are doing. Don’t let your life get torn apart and defeated just because you want to look like everyone else.