The prophet Samuel had warned the people of Israel against wanting a human king instead of trusting the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be their king. But they didn't listen. They wanted "change!" And they got change. They got King Saul, who became so obsessed with his own power and glory that the people of Israel suffered greatly at the hand of their enemies. Saul said to them, "When you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, 'No, we want a king to rule over us - even though Yahweh your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, Yahweh has set a king over you. If you fear Yahweh and serve Him and do not rebel against His commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow Yahweh your God - good! But if you do not obey Yahweh, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you as it was against your fathers. Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon Yahweh to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of Yahweh when you asked for a king. " (1 Samuel 12:12-17).
When I was in Kansas last week we drove through a lot of wheat fields, and one thing became quickly obvious to me. There has been too much rain! Just as in Colorado, they have had an unusually wet spring, and the crops are poor, many of them too wet to cut or to survive. I have lived in Colorado now for 25 years, and NEVER have I seen so much rain or heard so much thunder! The parallel is unavoidable.
When the people of this nation were unhappy they asked for a king - a human king, not the King of kings! They look to King Obama and the government to be their savior - and the result for us is the same as it was for Israel. But we're so busy watching "king" Michael Jackson and whatever other idols the media wants to hype that we don't even realize the danger we are in for rejecting our True Messiah and failing to repent. In Samuel Chapter 12, the people heard the warning of the prophet and they repented. "Then Samuel called upon Yahweh and that same day He sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel. The people all said to Samuel, 'Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die; for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.' 'Do not be afraid,' Samuel replied. 'You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from Yahweh, but serve Him with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of His Great Name, Yahweh will not reject His people, because He was pleased to make you His own."
If we would turn away from worshiping Obama, and Jackson, and whatever other useless idols we have placed above the Lord our God, would He not do the same for us? He is pleased to make us His own! Yet, this true, from-the-heart repentance has not occurred in our nation. In fact, we are increasingly becoming a nation that is utterly turning away from all God's commands and professing universalism instead of teaching that Yeshua haMashiach (our Lord Jesus Christ) is the ONLY Way, the Truth, and the Life! And so the rain continues to fall, the wheat continues to die, and the Thunder of His Voice continues to warn us: "I will send thunder and rain, and you will realize what an evil thing you did in My eyes in asking for a king." Is anyone listening?
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