VII.
As I read this account, I keep coming back to questions about what we want from God, what God might want from us (and for us), and what the future brings to us?

VIII.
1 Samuel 8:4-7; 10:17-24 (NRSVUE)

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah and said to the Israelites, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said, ‘No, but set a king over us.’ Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man, and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the Lord, “Did the man come here?” And the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

IX.
Why might the elders of Israel be concerned for what their future might be?

Their proposal for a king brings Samuel’s displeasure and sense of rejection.

Scripture presents their proposal as a rejection of God and yet their request for a king is granted?

If they have rejected God, why does the Scripture present God as helping them find a King?

I wonder if we should reflect and review our own “prayer requests” and how we notice God’s responses to us?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}