Rejecting God's Rule Over Us

"Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations...And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them."

1 Samuel 8:5,7 (Read 1 Samuel 8:1-22)

Samuel had grown old and his sons began to judge the people of Israel; but they did not walk in the ways of Samuel, their father. They ruled for their own gain, took bribes, and perverted justice (vv. 1-3). Then all the elders of Israel came to Samuel and asked him to make them a king to rule over them, like the other nations around them (vv. 4-5). This displeased Samuel, but Samuel took it to the LORD God in prayer; and God told Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them" (vv.6-8). God also told Samuel to warn them and show them what it would be like if they had a king. And, so, Samuel warned the people that their king would take their sons and make them his soldiers and his servants; and he would make their daughters his perfumers, cooks, and bakers; that he would take the best of their fields and lands for himself and his servants; that he would take a tenth of their produce for his officers and servants; and that they would become his servants (vv. 9-18). Yet the people still desired a king to rule over them (vv. 19-22).

Why was this so? Why did the people so desire to have a king reign over them? Ultimately, it came down to a lack of trust in the LORD God. They were rejecting His rule over them! (cf. v. 7). Instead of trusting in the LORD to protect them from their enemies, to be with them in battle, to raise up righteous judges to judge them according to God's Word, they wanted to be like the other nations of the world and have a king to protect them, fight their battles for them, and govern them.

Are we not doing the very same thing in our land today? Our nation's constitution and government were so designed to keep the rule of human government to a minimum--to provide for and regulate only those things which were necessary for the peaceful existence and well-being of our citizens. They were designed to protect the rights of the people to govern themselves by the principles of God's Word, and to worship and serve the God of the Bible. Though not all were Christians, there is no doubt that our constitution and government were designed to serve a people who accepted the teaching and moral values of the Holy Scriptures. John Adams, our nation's second president, states: "Our constitution was designed only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." Calvin Coolidge states: "The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country." Rather than placing their confidence in large standing armies and military might, our founding fathers meant what they printed on our coins: "In God We Trust."

But what has happened to this nation which was once founded upon Christ and His Word? We have rejected God and His rule over us! We have gone to great lengths to remove God and His Word from our daily lives--even calling it illegal and unconstitutional to read or quote from the Bible in our schools, courts, and other government controlled entities. And what has happened as a result? Without the foundation of God and His Word, we have turned more and more to human government to regulate and control our people and our lives. The number of laws continues to increase (even to protect us from ourselves and our own foolishness), the size of our military and police forces grows, we build more and more jails and prisons; and yet lawlessness too continues to rise. More and more of our labor goes to support the federal government (from approximately 2% of a family income in 1950 to 25% in 1994). The killing of our unborn children (and the elderly), practicing homosexuality, making and viewing pornography, etc., etc., which were once clearly understood to be wrong, are now being defended as right and afforded constitutional protection. We have rejected God's rule over us and have relied upon man to rule, and look where it has gotten us! And if we continue on in our eveil ways, there is no question but that it will bring the judgment of God upon us and our nation! Consider God's judgment upon other nations and peoples for similar (and possibly even lesser) wickedness.

What can we do? God's Word tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." God calls upon us to humble ourselves before Him. As Jeremiah the prophet wrote, following God's judgment upon Judah's sins, "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens" (Lamentations 3:40-41). As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us humble ourselves before the LORD God and acknowledge and confess our sins and the sins of our nation before the LORD God. Let us pray for God's mercy and forgiveness for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered and died upon the cross, rising again on the third day, that He might save us from God's wrath and punishment upon our sins (cf. 1 Cor, 15:3,4; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 3:18; John 3:14-21). Let us seek God's face by reading and studying the Scriptures and learning of Him and His holy will (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:14-17; Colossians 3:16), and by teaching and sharing that Word with our fellow countrymen (cf. Matthew 28:18-20). And let us turn from our wicked ways to serve the God of heaven, who has both made us and redeemed us through His own precious Son, Jesus Christ (cf. Isaiah 55:6-7)!

O gracious God, have mercy upon us and our nation. Move us to repent of our sins and trust in Thee to forgive our iniquities for the sake of the shed blood of Thine only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. O God, have mercy upon us and heal our land. We pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our Savior and the Savior of all mankind. Amen.

"Knowing that intercessary prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray--to really pray. Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight--all through the day. Let us pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word 'concern' out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice." Robert E. Lee

"The choice before us is plain, Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come, it now is, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America's future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God's government."

Peter Marshall

"Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of evil."

Joel 2:12-13

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