Old Testament: 1Sa 8.21–22

To read the Bible in a year, read First Samuel 7–9 on April 11, In the year of our Lord Christ 2023

By Don Ruhl 

Unhappy with the sons of Samuel whom he had appointed as judges of Israel, the nation asked for a king. This tore Samuel up and he cried to the Lord about it, but the Lord explained that the people were rejecting Him, not Samuel, and that he should give them what they wanted: 

And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. So the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.”

– 1 Samuel 8.21–22 

The Lord knew what He was doing because He had just told Samuel what to say to the people and how the king would take from them, and when the people would cry to Him about it, He would not hear. 

Sometimes God gives us what we want, although He does not want it for us, nevertheless, He gives it anyway that we might learn from experience that our request was wrong and that He was right all along. 

Questions: 

• Where did Samuel instruct the people to go? 
• Have you learned that God’s choices are always right? 

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