The following are discussion questions from a weekly study I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel.  We meet each Wednesday evening at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Here Comes A King:
A Study of the Book of 1 Samuel

Lesson 9 (King Me)
1 Samuel 8:1 – 22

The Text:

1. What was Samuel’s plan for leadership in Israel as he grew old?  How did his sons live?
    
2. What did the elders of Israel want Samuel to do?  What was their reasoning?
    
3. How did Samuel take the request from Israel’s elders?  What bothered Samuel out of their conversation?  Do you think this should have been his main concern?
    
4. What is God’s response to Samuel?  Who does God say the request of the elders is against? 
    
5. What things does God tell Samuel to tell the people regarding their request?  Do these sound like encouraging or good things?  How do the people respond?

The Application:

1. What legacy do you hope to leave?  Do you have, have you had, plans for your children?  How easy/hard is it to see our children as others see them? 
    
2. What do you do when you don’t like the leaders who are over you?  How tempting is it to criticize rather than acknowledge God’s placing them where they are?  In what ways do Christians today often want leadership to look like it does everywhere else?   
    
3. How personally do you take it when people reject what you stand for?  Does their rejection cause you to miss the reasons they may be sharing?  Are you more concerned about your position or about listening and doing right?   
    
4. When you are living your life for God and people reject what you stand for, who are they really rejecting?  How hard is it to still listen to their concerns and warn them of the consequences of rejecting God?
    
5. What are some of the consequences today of rejecting God as your King and serving something/someone else?  Even when we know the costs of serving something/someone else, why do we do that?

Next week: 1 Samuel 9:1 -10:8
The Search Is On