Homegrown Journal

“But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, (emphasis added) with a king to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
1 Samuel 8:19-20

Devotion

The elders of Israel had asked Samuel for a king. This grieved Samuel as he could see they were rejecting their one true King. Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord told Samuel to tell the Israelites how oppressive a human king would be. They did not care, as you can see in their response above. They insisted the Lord give them a human king.

When we want something really badly, we tend to get impatient with God. We judge Him, as “not good” when our wants are not met. We see someone driving the car we want or living in the house we would like to have or wearing the clothes and jewelry we would look better in, and we decide they are blessed while we are not.

Can I tell you something? Comparisons kill. They show us what we lack, not all the things we have already been graciously given. In comparing ourselves to others, we identify what we don’t have as opposed to celebrating what we do have.

When I was young, I wanted blonde hair. I had determined girls with blonde hair were smarter, more popular, and better at sports. My carrot top just would not do. So I spent years hating myself because I wasn’t like the blonde-headed girls. This sometimes caused me to lose friends because they couldn’t stand to be around someone who just beat herself up all the time. I lost a boyfriend because he had identified if I didn’t love myself, why should he?

Thirty years later, I have been diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer, and I am looking at people who have been healed and wondering why I haven’t been. I enviously look at people who are doing fun things, who don’t have to wear a mask or take a break or avoid sodas. I want to be them. One day I was home alone and a commercial came on showing two girls shopping for shoes. I burst into tears. Why can’t I go shopping? Why do I have to work so hard at staying alive and other people don’t?

Where were my eyes during these pity parties? I can tell you they were not on Jesus! Comparing myself to others and their situations caused me to lose relationships and worst of all, time with my Savior.

The Lord has created us and given us talents and abilities not everyone has. This is by design. He wants each of us to use the specific, well thought out gifts He gave to each of us to go and bless His people. You can bless people in ways I can’t and vice versa. Someone once told me God has a dream for each of us.

Wouldn’t it be awful to let that dream die because we’re wondering what it would be like to have a human king?

Pray

Dear King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you have given us so much. You gave us your Son, who suffered and died and rose again to bring us your salvation. You solved our sin problem so we could have a relationship with you. Forgive us when our eyes wander and our hearts feel dissatisfied. We love you, Jesus. Amen.