both for leading us in prayer.
If we can turn back for the time that we have left
to the passage that we read in 1 Samuel.
We'll consider just for the time that we have
the God who ordains all things in our lives
and how he does so in this, as I said, this snippet.
Last time we looked at Israel gathered at Mizpah
and the Philistines had come upon them.
When they were recommitting themselves
and putting away the other gods,
the Philistines came upon them.
And we parallel that passage to 5th Catechism
that asks, are there more gods than one?
And there is, but only the one, the living and true God.
And we look at chapter 8 now.
And when we look at the people of Israel
in the passage here, we see and have that sense
that there are people that are struggling
to commit themselves to God,
commit themselves to this Lord.
And we've seen them as a people
from the beginning of the book of Samuel.
And they're not necessarily opposing God outright.
They're mindful of God, but they're never really grasping
who God is.
They're never really fully understanding the Lord, their God,
who should be their God,
who they should be relying upon as their one God.
And the best that we saw of Israel was,
if you remember, when the Ark of the Covenant
came back in to Israel.
And they stood there in awe.
Who can stand before this God?
This Lord, this holy God.
Who can stand before it?
They realized who God was,
and the power of his characteristics,
and the holiness of his being.
And another quality that we see in them,
a good quality, was last two weeks ago
when we saw them at Misma.
And they put away their other foreign gods.
And then they committed themselves to this one Lord.
And they had the Philistines come upon them.
They weren't prepared for battle.
They weren't ready to fight.
They were like sitting ducks,
ready to fail.
They had nothing to do but to cry out to God.
And asking Samuel not to cease to cry out for God for them.
And God proved him to his people.
God showed himself as one.
The one Lord that could be trusted.
God listened to their cry.
God listened to their prayer.
But we see them in the passage again here.
They're wanting to satisfy their own desire.
They're wanting to be like the other nations.
And to have over them a king.
Like the other nations.
And you watch them and
you can almost ask,
you know,
what's happening?
You're going in the wrong direction again.
But God grants their wishes.
And he employs the prophet Samuel
to send words of warning
against them having this king
and their desire to be like the other nations.
And he's saying to them,
you know,
this isn't going to be for your benefit.
But still,
there is a man put over them.
And when God spoke in verse,
in chapter nine at verse 16,
he says,
there will be a prince.
You shall anoint him to be a prince.
It's funny that God didn't title
this man as a king.
Maybe God didn't see this man as a king.
And we can look in this passage.
And as I said,
it's like they're getting it all wrong again.
They're going in the wrong direction.
We feel like saying to us,
you know,
look at what God has just done for you.
He set you free from the Philistines.
Is he not one that you should be trusting in
as your king?
Rather than fulfilling your desires
to have this worldly king over you.
And the overarching words,
in a sense of this section,
is in chapter eight and verse 22,
where God says to Samuel,
obey the voice of the people
and make for them a king.
God allows it to happen.
It was in his will.
It was his ultimate purpose
that this should happen and take place.
And when we see it now,
we know that,
you know,
it was for his glory.
It was for God's purposes.
And this ties into Catechism seven.
What are the decrees of God?
The decrees of God
at his eternal purpose,
according to the counsel of his will,
whereby for his own glory,
he has foreordained
whatever whatsoever comes to pass.
God's eternal purpose,
according to the counsel of his will,
whereby for his own glory,
he has foreordained
whatever comes to pass.
And paralleling,
it was never my intention
to do this,
but they seem to fit well
with what the chapters
are referring to
and what we can learn
from the chapter
to parallel them
with catechisms.
And, you know,
hopeful that when we read
through these chapters again,
we can go,
oh yeah,
when,
when they came
to miss parents,
Samuel told them
to return to the one God.
Because God is
the one and only true God.
And then you can
maybe think of this passage here
and see where Israel
went after,
wanted to fulfill their desires.
But God allowed it
because God had a purpose.
Because God
established this kingdom
where all other kings would fail.
and he would put in place
his king
that would
rule over them.
Just to help us
and to tie these doctrines
of teachings
into the passages
and we understand
clearly what they are.
And the scope of
God's eternal purpose
is far beyond this
chapter.
God's purposes
are from the beginning
to all eternity.
beyond what we can understand.
God's purpose,
God's will,
God's providence
in our lives
even tonight
as we sit here.
That we should be here.
And that he knew
that we would be here.
And that all
his ways are fulfilled
in every step
that we take
in our lives.
They are
his ways
and they are
for his glory
and we trust
in him.
Not that we
fully understand
his ways.
His ways
are mysterious.
And you can dig
so deep
in these
things of God
that's,
well,
you don't know
where to start.
God's
provisions
God
working
things out
for his
own glory.
You know,
you can dig
so deep
but it's a
Wednesday night
and many of us
have been working
and many of us
don't have the
headspace
to go into
these things
so deep.
So I just
want to
use the
passage
that we
read
and just
skim
through
the snippet
of time
and see
how God
outworks
all things
for his
eternal
purpose
in the
people,
the different
people,
the people
of the
nation,
the prophet
Samuel
and the
prince.
And maybe
we can,
as we look
at these
things,
look back
in our
lives
and see
that they
are true
experiences
in our
Christian
life.
So we
look at
the people
and the
people
coming
for
four
and five
asking to
appoint a
king over
the nations
over their
nation to
be like
the other
nations.
Someone that
they can
look up
to.
Someone that
they could
look up
to and
admire.
Someone
they can
honor.
And
Samuel
was not
on board
with this.
You can
see that
in verse
six.
And he
comes to
God in
prayer and
God answers
him,
obey the
people.
They have
not rejected
you.
They have
rejected me
from being
king over
them.
Ever
since I
brought them
out of
Egypt,
they've
adopted
other
gods.
God
this time
I'll let
them have
their
way.
But you
Samuel must
warn the
people what
it will
mean to
have their
desires
fulfilled,
not to
have me
as their
king,
but to
have this
other
worldly
king over
them.
And
verse 10
down to
verse 18,
that's the
warnings about
having a
king over
them.
There's a
list there
of things
that this
king will
do.
He will
rob them
off so
much.
He will
take their
sons.
They will
have to
work for
him.
He will
take their
daughters.
He will
take their
food.
He will
take their
slaves.
He will
take their
livestock.
And it's
interesting that
of all
their produce
that they
had, it
was a
tenth that
would be
taken by
this worldly
king.
Now it
was always
a tenth
god I
asked for.
And why
maybe they
hadn't been
giving their
tithe to
God.
We don't
know why,
but it
was guaranteed
that it
would be
taken from
them and
so much
more would
be taken
from them
by adopting
this worldly
king.
Maybe it's a
thought for us
to consider
that if they
hadn't been
given their
tithe,
does God
take that
even from
the people
of God
by some
other means
if we
don't give
it.
Just a
thought,
maybe worth
discussion.
But at
the end of
this list,
God says
you're going
to cry out
because of
these things.
For this
king you have
chosen,
but the
Lord will
not answer
you in that
day when
you realise.
It's almost
like when you
realise what
you've done,
I won't
answer you.
And they
say to
themselves,
no,
to all
these warnings,
there will
be a king
over us.
It's
amazing.
They know
God,
they've
experienced
God,
God's
revealed
himself to
them,
shown how
he can be
trusted,
that he
would deliver
them from
the Philistines
and still
they're
refusing
Samuel's
words and
saying,
no,
I want
my desire
to be
fulfilled.
Because
we're
looking at
it and
going,
what are
you doing
Israel?
And it's
easy to
look at
them and
say it
when we
look at
ourselves.
It's so
tempting for
us to
fit in
with the
world.
We look
at the
world and
we want
to adopt
the things
that they
are doing.
They give
us all
sorts of
ideas.
attractive
ways,
but they
work.
And these
things can
infiltrate
into us
as people
and as
a nation
of God
in a
sense.
And
when these
swirly
things come
in,
we as
the people
of God
lose our
identity.
That's what
happened to
the people
here.
They adopted
what they
wanted as
a king
of a
nation,
a worldly
king,
but they
lost their
identity.
The
distinction
of the
people and
having the
Lord as
their king
was lost.
They started
to blend in
with the
world.
And when
we start
adopting the
things of
the world,
we'll blend
in.
We lose
our distinction,
we lose
our identity.
But we
need to look
at ourselves
as well.
And where
do I go
wrong?
As a
believer in
God.
We make
bad decisions.
And
you can put
it so
simply,
I just
thought when
I was a
wee bit
hungry,
in the
middle of
the afternoon,
I went
down to
the kitchen,
you'll all
fit in
with this
image that
I'm
giving.
I went
down to
the kitchen,
I was
feeling a
bit hungry,
there's a
bowl of
fruit there,
but there
was also
a cake.
And you
think,
well,
I've not
had any
fruit today,
I should
probably eat
the fruit.
But I
didn't,
you know,
the cake
was there.
And as
you think
about it,
the fruit
is good
for you.
It's good
for your
teeth.
It'll
benefit you,
it'll give
you more
energy.
It'll do
you good.
The cake,
it's bad
for you.
It's bad
for your
teeth,
bad for
your body.
But I
ate the
cake.
And I
think,
well,
why did
I do
that?
You
know,
I'm
attracted
to the
thing
that's
bad for
me.
And the
cake was
one of
the worst
things I
could have
had.
And the
fruit would
have been
one of
the best
things I
could have.
The cake
would have
had no
benefit for
me.
The fruit
would have
benefited.
And the
cake,
you know,
I'd pay for
it at some
point.
Maybe I'd
come in one
day with
a belly.
But,
you know,
you'll pay
for taking
the cake.
It's
funny how
you,
it's funny,
isn't it?
We know
what's good
for us,
but we
go for
the thing
that's not
the best,
the thing
that won't
benefit us,
the thing
that will
bring trouble
maybe later
on in our
lives.
we have
poor
preferences,
don't we?
We prefer
these things
and it's a
poor choice.
We have
poor
preferences
in our
lives.
We want
to read
the Bible,
but we pick
up our
phones.
We want
to pray,
or we
should pray,
and we'll
put out the
rubbish,
we'll clean
the house,
we'll find
something else
to do.
We can
go through
this cycle
where we
can enjoy
the good
things,
and we
can feel
the benefit
of the
good things,
but then
we can
slip into
adopting
the things
that have
no benefit
for us,
and we
know they
have no
benefit for
us,
we know
they are
bad for
us,
and it's
like in
a Christian
experience,
we eat
what's good
for us
in the
word of
God,
and we
consume
things that
we shouldn't,
and we
have this
peaks and
troughs of
our experience,
we trust
God with
one hand,
and we
refuse him
with the
other,
we consume
what we
like,
and we
don't
grow,
our
poor
preferences
doesn't
make us
grow,
we lose
out,
we suffer,
why are
we not
content,
with what
God has
given us,
we're
always
looking and
desiring
after other
things,
like the
people of
Israel,
but then,
even then,
God can
use us
in the
bad decisions
we make,
the bad
things we
desire,
the poor
preferences
of our
lives,
God can
use them
for his
glory,
and that
baffles us,
that he would,
and it's not
an excuse
for sin,
we should
always put
to death
the sin
that grows
within us,
we should
always exercise
self-control,
control,
we need to
be careful
in our
lives,
where our
desires
are,
and to
put these
poor
preferences
and turn
it to
good
preferences
in the
word of
God,
that's the
people,
and briefly
the prophet,
Samuel is
the prophet
of God,
revealing his
word to
the Israelites,
and you
can't help
it when you
read the
passage,
they want
a king,
Samuel is
saying,
God doesn't
want a
king,
and then
God's,
well,
Samuel is
saying this
isn't right,
and all
these warnings
are coming
from God,
and then
God grants
it anyway,
and was
Samuel confused
by this,
maybe he's
asking,
why is this
happening,
what is God
doing,
we can
imagine him
praying to
God,
this is not
right,
saying to
Israel,
this is not
good for
you,
this is
going to
cost you,
and though
he doesn't
agree that
he's
submissive to
the voice
of God
and to
his word,
and it
was actually
God's
plan that
a king
would be
set over
them,
you can
go back
to
Deuteronomy
17,
verse 14,
it says
that when
you come
into the
land of
Canaan,
there will
be a
king set
over you,
there will
be a
king of
his
choosing,
but they're
wanting this
king,
you know,
where is
Samuel
understanding this?
he's like the
man that's
eating the
good word
of God,
listening and
obeying to
the voice of
God,
even when it's
not what he
wants to hear,
even when he
thinks it's
wrong,
and it's an
interesting point
that God's
people are
going the
wrong way,
Samuel knows
that it is
not aligned
with the
favour of
God,
they want
this king,
but he
doesn't walk
away,
he doesn't
take
humbrage
to this,
he doesn't
take the
huff with
God,
he doesn't
take the
huff,
he doesn't
fall out
with the
people over
it,
he doesn't
go looking
for a
better
people,
he doesn't
refuse to
do the
job that
God had
given him
to do,
God
says to
tell the
people it
is wrong,
this is
your job,
tell the
people it
is wrong
and you
must tell
them,
but if
they want
their king,
I will
grant it
to them,
I know
that they
have rejected
me,
and Samuel
it's hard
for you to
understand,
but be
faithful to
him,
you don't
understand
what's going
on,
but be
faithful,
this is
part of
my
eternal
purpose,
to bring
this
kingdom
into
formation,
and to
set this
kingship,
this new
season of
kings in
my
eternal
purposes.
You know,
sometimes we
look at
ourselves and
we wonder
what's going
on,
and we
look around
and think
what's
happening?
We ask
God what's
going on
in this
world,
why are
you people
adopting
the world's
methods?
But then,
in all
honesty,
we ask
ourselves,
why am I
adopting
the world's
methods?
What am I
doing in
my life?
And like,
it's almost
as if we're
suffering through
our lives
against these
sins.
We look at
ourselves and
we say,
why was I
doing,
why have I
done that?
Why have I
not been
given my
time to
reading God's
word?
Why have I
not been
praying?
You know,
I thought I
would have
grown so
much more
if I had
been eating
the good
fruit,
if I had
been in
the word
of God,
feeding of
this
goodness.
that my
poor
preferences
has left
me
suffering
through
life
with
these
sins.
We
struggle
to
understand
ourselves,
we struggle
to understand
God's
times,
God's so
mysterious
to us.
And there's
many days
where we
ask,
you know,
what's
going on?
How can
this be
for your
good?
You know,
Samuel
would have
been
asking,
is
your
student
the wrong
thing?
And how
can this
be for
any
good?
And God
is the
God who
works all
things for
good.
No matter
where we
are,
however we
feel,
the best
place for
us is to
listen and
consume this
goodness of
God,
to listen to
God's
words.
And the
most beneficial
place to
us, the
most beneficial
thing for
us as
Christians,
is to
feed off
this
goodness
of God
that he
has given
us through
his word.
We'll never
be like
Samuel.
like a
prophet.
But we
must be
faithful to
him, not
understanding
what's
happening in
the times,
how he
has placed
these things
in my
life.
You know,
you look at
Job and
you wonder,
you know,
how did
he feel?
But he
held to
God, he
held to
his word.
We must
be obedient
to what
God asks
of us,
whatever
God asks
us,
whether
it's to
tell the
people that
they are
wrong,
whether
God uses
us in
whichever
way, we
listen to
him.
And if we
listen to
him, it
will be
within his
will.
And that
is the
best place
for us
to be.
We listen
to God
because he
is a God
worth trusting
and he is a
God worth
waiting upon
in our
lives.
and
briefly
the
prince,
and all
I want
to say
about the
prince is
that Samuel
came as
this man.
He was
going about
his daily
duty.
He was
looking for
donkeys.
And he
came to
this prophet,
this seer,
to ask that
they would
show him
the way
to find
the donkeys.
God's
eternal
purposes
surprise
us.
Maybe you
can look
back in
your life
and think,
you know,
I thought
this should
have happened
this way,
but God
changed it.
And it
was the
right time
then,
looking back,
that God
didn't allow
me to go
the way I
did.
It was
hard at
the time
and I
didn't
understand
it.
Maybe
God
sent
someone
in your
experience
and just
what you
needed at
that time.
And it
was a
complete
surprise
to you
that he
did it.
Maybe it
was someone
just talking
to you
and giving
you a
word in
season.
I
didn't
understand
it at
the time,
but it
was the
best,
most
beneficial
thing
for me.
How we
can go
about our
daily lives
and God
can use
us.
We
often feel
like we're
not doing
any good,
but God
God's
providence
over all
things,
God's
providence
over us
as his
created
beings,
how God
works out
his
providence
in our
lives.
We
struggle to
understand
it because
we don't
know the
big picture,
but we
must be
faithful to
him,
faithful
that he
is one
that will
put a
king over
us.
He will
be our
king.
put all
the
desires
to the
side.
We eat
the goodness
of the
word of
God and
trust in
this word
and trust
in the
king that
God
took
and placed
higher than
any other
king,
the king
over all
kings,
the Lord
Jesus
Christ,
a king
that is worth
trusting,
a king that is
worth waiting
upon, a
king that
will do
us good
if we
trust in
him, a
king that
we can
rely upon.
All the
other kings
of the
Bible
failed,
so all
failed,
but King
Jesus will
not fail
us.
He is
our mighty
king,
and he
is a
king that
can use
us for
his glory,
as
strange as
it is,
people that
are so
flawed,
and people
that struggle
with their
sins,
and choose
the wrong
thing,
but God
in his
eternal
purpose
will bless
it to
his glory.
So I
pray that
we know
God's hand
working in
our lives,
even when
we're confused
and don't
understand
what's going
on,
even when
we're going
the wrong
way,
even when
we're going
about our
daily
business,
we're
God
intervened,
and God
revealed to
us that
he is
our king,
and that he
is a king
that we can
trust in.
Amen.
May these
thoughts be
blessed to
us.
We will
sing in
conclusion in
Psalm 24,
the Scottish
Salter.