The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/1_samuel/11.htm

They sure had a way of getting their point across in those days.

Remember in the Book of Judges when the Levite from Ephraim’s concubine was raped all night by the men of Gibeah and she subsequent died from the attacks? And the Levite cut her into pieces and sent her throughout the land to show the rest of Israel what the men of Gibeah had done?

Now, the Ammorites are threatening to attack Jabash Gilead they sent to Saul for help. Saul became angry with the Ammonites, and cut a yoke of oxen (which was two) into pieces and sent it out across Israel with a message that if the different tribes of Israel did not come and help defend Jabash Gilead, he would do the same to all of their oxen.

Perhaps that was to demonstrate the sense of urgency or something; I would have tried a simple request myself. Perhaps that didn’t work in those days.

So Saul gathered an army and fought his first battle and won.

In the last chapter, there were some men that weren’t too confident in Saul, and scripture says the “despised” him. Now after Saul’s victory, the people of Israel loved Saul, and they wanted to find those who rebelled and kill them, but Saul would not let them. So Saul started off being a good king.

Samuel was getting old and he knew he didn’t have much longer on the earth. God sent him to give a message to the people of Israel, that because they had a king, they still had to obey God. It was possible, that their king could become their idol, and that they worshiped their king more than they did God. So Samuel reminded them of all God had did for them, and just because they had a king, they still had to obey the Lord.

I think many of us forget that to this day. We pay a lot of attention to politics, we get deeply involved into who our president is. And it’s true, a good president can do good things for us, a bad president can lead us down the wrong path. But what is important, is that God is still in charge; He is still our King.

God’s Will will be done, no matter who is in charge of the countries of the world. We still have power over our path however, and we must still be obedient and follow the Lord. For example, there are many “Christians” who follow a certain political party that supports the murder of children in the womb, that is, abortion. You can make all the excuses you want, you can argue about “science” all day long, but deep down inside, you know that life inside the womb is a living being, a human in development. And deep down, you know that killing that child is wrong.

I hear arguments all of the time about “the life of the mother”, and there are time when you have to abort the baby to save the mother. Rachel died in childbirth, giving birth to Benjamin. If they had know she was going to die, do you think they would have terminated that pregnancy? No, they wouldn’t have. They may have prayed harder for God to save Rachel, and we don’t really know what led to the death of Rachel.

The point I’m trying to make without rambling, is regardless of our government or governmental laws, we still have to be obedient to God. Yes, abortion may be legal, but that doesn’t mean we have the right to abort our babies. God trumps the law makers; God trumps the presidency. And no matter how bad you think a president is, God is still in charge and you can trust Him to do what is right.

And that is what Samuel was telling the people. The Israelites asked for a king and God gave them one, but that didn’t mean they could blindly follow the king, they still had to follow God’s Word.