Stability
“No!” they said. “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.” (1 Samuel 8:20)
Israel demanded a King because, well, everybody else had one. Never mind that God had brought plagues on the people who had enslaved them for centuries until the Israelites were able to walk out of Egypt with their freedom and a sizable portion of the nation’s wealth. Forget about that time He parted the Red Sea so they could walk through on dry ground. Don’t even mention the thousands of times He physically provided them with miraculous food and water in the middle of a wasteland.
Jericho? Gideon? God’s glory living among them so powerfully that people dropped dead if they got too close? That’s all cool, but you know what would be great? A king.
It’s hard to adequately imagine life in Israel without a king. The best I understand it, the people lived together in relative freedom. They were led by wise judges, selected by God, who led them through times of crisis. And because they were God’s chosen people, they always came out victorious.
But the problem with this form of government was that they had to wait until the crisis was on top of them before they saw God’s mighty hand at work. And as awesome as that experience must have been, there was something compelling about the idea of having someone who would go out and prevent the crisis from ever getting close enough to affect them.
When Samuel warned the people of the price they would pay to have a king (namely that he would take their children as servants and soldiers and tax their food and wine and animals), they simply did not care. The people wanted stability and predictability, no matter the cost.
At this point in my life, I feel like absolutely nothing is mapped out. Which may sound very adventurous and whimsical, but most days it just feels bewildering and frustrating. Like navigating a cross-country road trip with a sketch that someone drew on the back of a ketchup-stained napkin.
To be honest, I get the appeal that a king had for the people of Israel. I have witnessed first hand God’s faithfulness and care for me. In times of crisis and stress, He has provided and comforted and lifted me up. And yet.. on most days, I would trade that eleventh-hour assistance for a guarantee that I wouldn’t have to face the stress at all.
The Israelites got what they wanted, and in the end, they had a few good kings and a whole bunch more who were power hungry and maybe actually crazy. Then they spent generations in captivity because those kings didn’t actually keep war from bearing down on them.
It’s hard not to seek after stability. We want to know that everything is going to work out alright for us in the end, and hopefully before that point. But I’m trying to put my faith in something more trustworthy than my plans for the future. Something like this:
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
