“Don’t be afraid,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don’t turn your back on him.”
1 Samuel 12:20
When the Israelites realized they had sinned by asking for a king, notice Samuel’s first words to them, “Don’t be afraid!”
Most certainly, the people had made a bad choice, demanding their own way…to be ruled by a worldly king. Yet even though they rejected God’s Kingship, God did not abandon them! In fact, Samuel told them, “The Lord will not abandon His people…for it has pleased the Lord to make you His very own people.” (v. 22)
Often, we too fight to get our own way, yet God lovingly calls us His very own. HE will never abandon us, but for the relationship to remain secure, WE must not abandon Him!
The definition of abandon is to give up the control or influence of another person. Isn’t that what we do when we want our own way so badly that we stop listening to God and separate ourselves from His people? We know what HIS Word says, but we like what the worldly kings say better. Thinking WE know more than God, little by little we abandon HIS ways for our own.
I leave you with my paraphrase of Samuel’s final warning to God’s people:
Think of all the wonderful things HE has done for you…
If you insist on going your own way…you will be swept away.
