Saturday 5 Jun 2021

June 5: 1 Samuel 8:4-20
 
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 8:19
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over us.
 
Devotion:
One of the things we do as humans is look for other humans we can hold up as our leaders – we elevate them into positions where they hold far too much power over us and yet we don’t see it as such! When Samuel was getting old and the people saw none of his family were ready to take on the mantle of being the prophet to lead them, they turned to human ways and wanted someone they could think of as powerful to look after them and lead them.
 
What they were not thinking of was how God had been the one who was always there for them and always looked after them – albeit through the prophets because they would not listen directly to God!
 
The more we are surrounded by worldly issues, the more we look for someone who is willing to tell us what to do to get us out of the problems! If we were to set aside our physicals wants and look to God for our answers, we would be in a much better ways than we are now. The power and position of authorities gets to people’s heads and pride and greed take over their ways!
 
God wants us to not get too hung up with earthly way6s and power, but to look to Him in all ways for guidance and strength. He continues to offer us the guidance, but we keep on turning to mans ways to get us out of the problems when we should be looking for Gods ways! As the Israelites looked deeper at the issues which lay ahead, all they could do was to think of an earthly way forward... just like us!
 
Points to Ponder:
Who do you turn to for guidance when things go wrong?
 
Will you try to listen to God this time?