1 Samuel – Chapter 8

1 Samuel 8 Daily DEVO And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 1 Samuel 8:7 – If God isn’t enough for you in your story, then there is something wrong with the direction your story is going. When the embodiment of love isn’t enough, when the creator of life isn’t enough, when the one who died for you isn’t enough, something isn’t right. See the only times that God’s not going to be enough is if your desires are after sin rather than Him. Because He isn’t going to give into your lust and He isn’t going to comfort you in your unforgiveness. When your desire is what sin offers, He won’t fulfill those wants. Yet when your desire is Him, that’s when you experience the overflow of His blessing. So if right now you are feeling unsatisfied with your life with God, check to see if you’ve allowed some sinful habits to creep in and camp out in your story. When sin is giving the directions, God will never seem enough. Yet when our eyes see past the deception of sin, we begin to see that not only is God better than sin, but He is everything we could ever ask for. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 408

Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. 1 Samuel 8:9 – There will be times in our efforts to help people where we can no longer keep them from their choices. They’ve made their mind up and have chosen their path. In times like this all we can do is make sure they are aware of the consequences of their choice. After that it’s up to them what they do. Here the people wanted a king and Samuel laid out for them the consequences. The new king would take their children, take their fields, take their servants, and take their flocks, all for himself. All Samuel could do now was let them know what would happen if they kept walking down their path. We too will have people who have their mind made up and all we can do is let them know what they will face on that path. Maybe it’s a refusal to let go of a bad relationship or to never place their trust in Jesus. Share what they need to hear with love, but don’t sugar coat it either. They need to know what will be coming in their story. Then pray for them. We may not be able to change their hearts but God can. As much as possible be the voice in their story helping them shift over to a better path. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1633

He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.¹⁸And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. 1 Samuel 8:17-18 – Israel tells Samuel that they want to be like all the nations around them, that God told them to separate from, by having a king over them. They were rejecting God as their king and seeking to have a human king over them which wasn’t what God wanted for them at this time. God though allows it to take place, but has Samuel warn Israel prior to the cost of choosing this path. The king would take much from them. He would take their sons and daughters for his service and take their lands for himself. He would take from their flocks and fields, and they would even become his slaves. In Israel’s mind a king would solve all their worldly problems, but God wanted Israel to know that choosing a worldly fix to worldly problems is only going to increase your problems. This same truth applies to our life today as well. God has provided for us holy ways to handle our problems in life such as going to His word, going to our church family, or going to Him in prayer. Yet when a worldly issue arises we too can handle it like the Israelites and rely on worldly fixes to fix our worldly issue. Yet, as with the words of Samuel, such a choice is only going to lead to more problems. Instead let us come before King Jesus with our problems. Trust in the means He has blessed us with to deal with the issues that arise in our life. Know God’s heart is for you to find the help you need, but that help is found in Him alone. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2885