But everyone else is . . . going.  . . . doing.  . . . having.  . . . being.  . . . getting.  . . . watching.  . . . buying. . . . wearing. . . . ________.

Most of us have heard some variation of the above statement.  Actually, we’ve probably used a lengthy assortment of the above statement and filled in the blank to meet our own purposes more often than we care to admit.  How many times have you used some version of the above statement because you wanted to be like everyone else — you just wanted to fit in.  No matter how much someone has tried to persuade us that following the crowd is not always worth the consequences, we can’t be convinced.  We fall headlong into some sort of compromising situation before we realize that the consequences are greater than we expected.

I’m not the only one who has been there, right?  If that sounds familiar because we have lived it, then we ought to be able to have an understanding not only of what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 8, but why it happens.  As we look at the chapter, we see a reason given — an excuse, if you will — as to why the nation of Israel would make the request they do.  There is a growing dissatisfaction with the current leadership.  Samuel had led the nation to victories and into a time of peace.  Now he was growing old and his sons, whom he appointed as leaders following him, were corrupt.  So the people of Israel rise up and in essence state, “We don’t like the people in the position, so give us a new system of leadership.”  As a matter of fact, their actual request reveals a motive behind the desire for a change in structure.  We read in 1 Samuel 8:5 that the elders had come to Samuel and make this request or demand, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”  Later in the chapter, after Samuel has explained to the people what they are really asking for, how a king will rule and demand and take, they refuse to be swayed.  Actually, their demands become even more forceful in verses 19 & 20 as they respond to Samuel’s explanation, “No!  We want a king over us.  Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”  That’s it!  We want to be like everyone else.  We hear what you’re saying about the pitfalls in this course of action, but everyone else is having a king to lead them and we don’t want left out. 

We look at them and know their success as a nation under a king and we think, “These people were just arrogant and foolish — unwilling to listen to reason.”  How blind can they be?  This wasn’t the first time they had been faced with a poor quality of people coming into leadership, yet God had always taken care of them and led them and fought their battles for them in times past.  If they had just remembered, Samuel had been brought to leadership by God in the midst of a situation not unlike what they were currently facing.  Samuel’s rise to a position of leadership and authority came as God brought judgment to the sons of the previous leader, Eli, because they too did not follow the ways of God and were very corrupt.  It’s not like the nation reached a point of crisis in leadership and made a bad choice because they had no example of God taking care of this very problem — they just had no trust that God would and they wanted to be like everyone else.

Before we come down on them too hard, how often have you and I found ourselves in similar situations?  We don’t like the character of the person in leadership of our nation, region, locality, church, or family and so we push for a change in the entire system.  We don’t care why we have the leader we have, we want change and it sure looks like everyone else has it better than we do.  Underneath it all is the same rebellion present in Israel’s pursuit of a king.  It sounds like this, “We know God set it up this way, but things are different now.  We have a greater knowledge than God of what we really need.  If God had foreseen the way things are now, He would understand us setting aside what He said.”  That is what God tells Samuel.  God says to Samuel, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” 

Sound familiar?  It should.  How often have we thought, “The Bible can’t really mean that anymore?”  “Times are different now, I’m sure God would understand (if He were here).  We always say that last part under our breath, but we say it.  Or how about the infamous, “I know what the Bible says, but . . .”?  And then comes the next line.  It is really the same line used by the nation of Israel; we just reword it to fit the situation — “I know what the Bible says, but everyone else is doing it this way and look how successful they are!”  We are so good at justifying our rebellion and disobedience, aren’t we?

It is time for a change.  How about you and I adopting a new phrase and response to God?  Instead of the old excuses, why don’t we practice an “I know what the Bible says, so . . .” attitude?

I pray that your life and mine will be different as we live out an obedient “I know what the Bible says, so I will do it.”  May God lead, teach and direct each of us that we would follow Him faithfully and obediently.