S) "10 Where now is your king
That he may save you in all your cities,
And your judges of whom you requested,
'Give me a king and princes'?
11 I gave you a king in My anger
And took him away in My wrath."
Hosea 13:10-11 (NASB)
*because there are already entries for each of these chapters, I also read Hosea 13
*because there are already entries for each of these chapters, I also read Hosea 13
O) Here we have a fascinating thing. In today's reading (and recent days), I'm shown who Saul became. Initially, he seemed to be a humble enough guy, even seeming to shy away from becoming king. However, that changed over time, and the anointing of God was taken from him (along with his lineage, and therefore the kingdom). His arrogance and rebellion against God and against Samuel's instructions (which were given by God through the prophet), cost him personally and it cost the kingdom, too. Then, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse, because God had selected a man after His own heart, and promised that David's throne would be established forever. Then, even a great king and a great man, was led astray by his sin and it cost him personally and it cost the kingdom (although it was delayed). Then Solomon reigned and his sins hurt the kingdom further, and finally the kingdom was split by civil war. Then there was a long line of mostly terrible kings in the northern kingdom of Israel, and a single lineage of spotty goodness in the southern kingdom of Judah. But, it all started because the people were crying out to Samuel, who was their Judge at the time, that they wanted an enthroned king like the neighboring kingdoms. That was not what God wanted. In the verse above, we see God was actually angry about it. He knew that a king over the His people was not going to go well. He knew it would solve nothing, and only serve to lower the aim of the people, who would look less to their God for direction, and more and more look to their king, or else themselves as people sought to claim the kingdom for themselves. God gave them the king they wanted, the king they sought, even the very person they wanted to raise up for themselves, even though He warned them on the spot, through the prophet Samuel, that they were making the decision based on what they could see, but that they could not see the whole picture. He gave them what they wanted, even though it was going to go poorly. He gave them what they wanted, even though it wasn't good.
A) There is a common theme that I've heard repeated over and over for the last five years or so, that God is a good Father who would never give us something if it was bad for us, or that He would only give us good things. They use verses like Matthew 7:11 or James 4:2-3, but I think the verse above may be adding a complexity that is missed with simple messages like what I'm hearing recently. The people of God, His children, asked their God for a king. They asked for something that was bad. They asked for something that angered Him. Yet, He gave them their doomed and ill-fated request. When I read the New Testament verses I mentioned above, I see that Jesus said that the Father would give good gifts to those who ask Him... but that doesn't say He won't give bad gifts to those who ask Him. Also, what about people who are asking, but not really His children? If people are calling themselves Christians, but they are rebelling against God...? Well, James said that people (and he was writing to Christians) do not have because they do not have (presumably, these would be good things), because they don't ask God; they were just seeking to gain it on their own. Or else, they were asking for "good" things but with wrong motives. So, neither one of those passage (or any others that I can find) really say that the God the Father will not give us a bad thing, if we are asking for a bad thing. So I think, and this is maybe the real point, there are many passages in the New Testament, that tell me to pray according to God's will. Jesus said, when we pray we need to say, "Let Your will be done," and John said, "if we ask anything according to His will," then he hears us and we have it. This is all the more reason that it's important for me to seek His will, to want His ways, to ask for His plans to come to pass. Even now, I have requests, I have things that I'd like to have, or have happen. However, I specifically do not want God to do it if that would be bad for me. I don't want Him to give me a king, when having a king would make Him mad and cause me problems. I only want what He wants, and I need to be humble and seek only His will with every prayer, in every part of my life.
P) Father, You are a good God. You are a good Father. I know that Your plans for me are perfectly good. I know that You want what is best for me. Even if I asked for something that is evil, and You let me have it, that doesn't diminish Your goodness. I know that as long as I am seeking Your will, then answers to my prayers will be good, because Your will is good for me. Help me to stay humble, Lord. I want what You want. Please change the desires of my heart, if ever they are not aligned with Your will. Give me new desires, give me the desires of my heart by changing what I want, Lord. Let me find all of my satisfaction in You, in my relationship with You, and not in what You give me or do for me. Help me focus on the eternal, not the temporal. I do want to move to Montana, but let it happen only in accord with Your will. Let every part of my life be subjected to You, my Lord and King, and good Father. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.
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