1Samuel
It’s hard being the chosen people, standing out from your neighbors, worshipping other gods, following other customs, traditions. And it’s just the same for us today. How many parents hear their kids say, “I just want to be like the other kids”? And how many times have I compared myself to others with those same words? Somehow, my troubles look bigger, or worse because of the ways that they seem to set me apart from others. So the Israelites want to be like their neighbors, have the same kind of government, a king. But there’s another piece here, too. Why do they want a king? So he’ll “fight our battles.” What they are saying is they no longer want the responsibility for their own self-determination under God’s dominion. Being in charge of your own life is too hard; they want someone else to do it for them. And that never works. There is only one person who can live my life: Me. Whenever I abdicate responsibility to someone else, I surrender a piece of God’s plan for me, because I am the only one who can fulfill that unique vision. It might feel good at the time, but in the long run it’s a little death that grows and grows until it can capture my whole life, and I find it’s no longer mine and therefore not mine to give to God. I have given up God’s dominion for someone’s or something else’s.
Prayer: Dear God, It’s so easy to abdicate responsibility for my own life, to let others have their way and avoid conflict. And time and time again it has led me down the garden path. Teach me to be alert, Lord, to those little moments of ceding my autonomy to others. Give me strength to resist, courage to face conflict and endurance to remain true to the life that You have given me, the vision that you call me to. Amen.
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