....Yeah...I thought so. And yet there are times throughout the history of God’s people, that He actually gave them what they suggested, desired, and even demanded; and it never ended well for them (Ps. 106:15). As the old saying goes...”The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.”
These past few days, we’ve been studying about the ‘promise’ that Jesus spoke of and how He was going to send the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and comfort His followers, not leaving them as ‘orphans’. He had assured them that while He had ‘been with them, He would soon be IN them’ (John 14:17-18). (That promise is for us today as well)
You should drop back to Ezekiel 36:24-27 where God promised that He was going to gather His people...and give them a new heart... and put a new spirit within them”, adding: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them.” You might jot down Rom. 2:13-14 & 8:4 while you’re at it (which also means to look them up and read them as well).
Now, Acts 1:4-8 allows us to peer in to that final meeting Jesus had with His followers as He admonished them to wait there in Jerusalem until they were ‘endued with power after the Holy Spirit came upon them...’ Wedged in the middle of that text is a question asked by one in that gathering, and every time I read it, I wonder...did Jesus sigh, roll His eyes, or maybe even plant His face in His palm as He shook His head. Nothing there indicates that He did so, but the question asked was: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
When...if ever...will God’s people see and understand...that the kingdom of heaven which Jesus came to declare was ‘at hand’...is NOT OF THIS WORLD. (Matt. 4:17; John 18:36). And yet....how bound and attached we continue to be to this earthly world and with all that is in the world. No wonder we are admonished over and over to ‘set our minds on things above and not on the earth’ (Col. 3:1-2).
When you pour over the words of Jesus from His ‘sermon on the mount’, He exhorts us to ‘not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth...but to lay up treasures in heaven’ (Matt. 6:19-20). He makes the case that we cannot become entangled ‘serving two masters’’ (6:24) and then goes on to encourage and remind us that our Father in heaven knows we have ‘earthly needs’...reassuring us that if we “seek first the kingdom of God AND His righteousness, all these other things will be added to us.” (6:25-33)
How often do we read where God continues to ‘call His people out...and to be separate’ from the world. And yet...we see quite a pattern laid out where God’s people have a hard time doing that as they always seem to ‘go astray in their hearts’ (Heb. 3:10) and find their way back to loving this world more. Case and Point:
When Moses was sending the Israelites off to take possession of this new promised land, he did set up a system of ‘judges’ to help handle disputes and offer guidance to the people by setting capable men in to place to handle these responsibilities. This system existed for some time...until the people decided...they ‘needed a king like all the other nations had’. They had a ‘better idea’ than what God had, apparently.
Granted, there were cases in which these judges did not always work out and we read in 1 Samuel 8 where the ‘elders of Israel gathered together and complained to Samuel’ about this and then let their demands be known: “Now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations have” (4-5). Samuel was neither pleased with nor a fan of this idea and went to God with it (6). Please note how God responded to Samuel’s concerns:
“Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (7)
That statement in itself...reminds me of one of those long, rumbling rolls of thunder I use to hear back in Texas...where it just went on and on and on...and shook the house and you wondered if/when it would end as you tried to imagine what the lightning bolt that triggered it actually looked like. It just goes tight through you...
‘Give them what they want’, God was essentially relaying to Samuel; but He also instructed him to ‘solemnly forewarn them’...what they were getting. You can read in detail there from vs. 11-18, ending with this promise: “and you will cry out in that day because of your king whom YOU have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” (18)
“Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”(19-20). Then, once more...God tells Samuel: “Heed their voice and make them a king.” (22).
I can still remember a moment in time, leading up to the presidential election we had in this country back in 2016. The two leading candidates we had to choose from was a man who won out over 10 other candidates in his party, who on a nationally televised debate bragged about the size of his genitalia, and had been recorded earlier boasting about where he liked to ‘grab’ women by; and then there was Hillary Clinton. In that final week leading up to that Tuesday where we would cast our votes, I made the statement to someone that regardless of who won, I was going to wake up ‘depressed’ on Wednesday morning.
And I have no doubt Whose voice I heard that quickly pierced my soul and asked of me: “Since when does your source of peace and joy depend on who lives in that White House?”
I would hope you fight the urge to jump to conclusions now, and join me back here tomorrow.(And if you are confused as to what 'Project 2025' stands for, you might Google it)
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