1 Samuel 8: Saul over Joel, "Reasonable" Pick, Merciful ☧

Rev. John Shank, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 8.

“Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.” Chapter 8 tragically begins with history repeating itself, Samuel’s sons falling the way of Eli’s sons before him. Top that off with the powerful enemy forces all around, and Israel’s request for a king—a general to direct their various armies as one force—seemed so reasonable. Yet our hearts are often far from God in our most “reasonable” moments, proudly insisting on our own impatient baby-out-with-the-bathwater solutions rather than respectfully inquiring of God with humble openness to His will, even when it doesn’t seem best to us. A king wasn’t a good idea, but God mercifully sent Christ to enter into the best aspects of kingship and to pull us out of our messy addiction to power.

Rev. John Shank, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 8.

“Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.” Chapter 8 tragically begins with history repeating itself, Samuel’s sons falling the way of Eli’s sons before him. Top that off with the powerful enemy forces all around, and Israel’s request for a king—a general to direct their various armies as one force—seemed so reasonable. Yet our hearts are often far from God in our most “reasonable” moments, proudly insisting on our own impatient baby-out-with-the-bathwater solutions rather than respectfully inquiring of God with humble openness to His will, even when it doesn’t seem best to us. A king wasn’t a good idea, but God mercifully sent Christ to enter into the best aspects of kingship and to pull us out of our messy addiction to power.