Well, I allowed the
business of the season to distract me from the real meaning of
Christmas – God with us. Although I have gone through the motions
of time with God, because I was tired it was not deep or life-giving
time. I knew I was sliding away from God, and this past week I have
gotten back on track. It was wonderful yesterday during the sermon
at church to learn something new! To me that is a sign that I have
put God first again. When my walk with God is stale, I don't see new
things in His Word. It is same old, same old – dry, stale, and
lifeless.
Our congregation
continues to work through The Story, a novelized version of the Bible
showing God's story of His endless pursuit of the people He loves.
We just looked at the story of Samuel and the establishment of a
human king over Israel.
God wanted to raise up a
nation that would be so different from the people around them that
those people would see His power and His blessings and they would
want to know this God of the Israelites. Part of the difference was
that God, Himself, was their king. But, the Israelites felt like
that wasn't working.
Then all
the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at
Ramah,and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not
walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the
nations.”( 1Sam 8:4-5)
The Israelites wanted to
be just like the neighbouring nations. They thought they were
missing out on something. (Hmm, that sounds like many Christians
today. God wants us to be different, but we want to enjoy the same
things that everyone around us enjoys.)
God was disappointed that
His people were rejecting Him as their king. He had His prophet
Samuel warn the people what it would mean to have a human king over
them.
So
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for
a king.
And he said, “This will be the behaviour of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties,will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”
And he said, “This will be the behaviour of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties,will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us,that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1Sam 8:10-20)
So God had Samuel anoint
Saul as king. Here is the resume of that king:
There was a
man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son
of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a
mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son whose name
was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he
among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was
taller than any of the people. (1Sam 9:1-2)
This is where I started
to learn something new. Saul's resume was that his father was
powerful and that he was tall and handsome. This is what the people
wanted – a king who looked “kingly.” They were not interested
in the king's character or relationship with God, they wanted a king
who looked the part.
Saul's
kingship was a sad story. I had always wondered why the first king
God had selected was such a failure. God gave the people
the king they wanted – not the best person for the job! Sometimes
God will give us what we pray for (what we pester Him for), even when
it is not good for us or His kingdom.
The
people wanted a king just like the other nations, so they got a tall
and handsome man who did not obey the Lord and who became prideful in
his own eyes. He failed miserably as a king. Then God had Samuel go
and anoint another king, a “man
after His own heart.” (1Sam 13:14)
God
sends Samuel to the house of Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint one of his
sons as the future king of Israel. When Samuel sees Jesse's oldest
“he
looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!" But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1Sam 16:6-7)
Samuel
had fallen into the same trap as the people of Israel, thinking that
tall and handsome makes for a good king. After showing the people
that their idea of a king was horribly wrong, He chooses David, a teenage sheep
herder who doesn't look outwardly like a king. It is through David
that the future Messiah would come – the ultimate fulfilment of all
the blessings and promises of God.
The
first king of Israel was such a mess-up because God gave the people
what they wanted. God didn't make a poor choice for the first king,
rather He let the people have what they pestered Him for. It is in
King David that we see what kind of king God wants us to have. A
king who's first love is God Almighty.
It
is Christmas. In North America a HUGE part of the celebration
includes lavish gift-giving to those who already have so much. It is
a time where the commercials promote and feed greed. The lines between need and want become so blurred. As
God's people are we going to be just like everyone around us, or are
we going to be different?
Heavenly
Father, thank you so much for Christmas! Thank you so much for the
incredible privilege of knowing You! As we celebrate the birth of
your Son, we also give gifts to others. However, it has become a
celebration of consumerism rather than a celebration of Your gift of
salvation. You gave us what we desperately needed. We give to
satisfy wants. Help us to find the right balance between giving to
show love, and giving to satisfy greed. It is a hard balance because
we have adopted the culture around us. Help us to give to those who
NEED our gifts, just as we NEED Your gift of Jesus. Let our
celebration of Jesus' birth not look just like the celebrations of
those around us who don't even know You. As we celebrate Christmas
may we find ways to give others the ultimate Christmas gift – the
gift of a relationship with Your Son.
It
is in His name and to Your glory I pray. Amen.
