Doing what was right in their own eyes

We finished looking at Samuel and Kings today and it is more amazing every time I study the Old Testament how relevant it is today. Throughout all of Samuel and Kings there are a succession of kings but the end result is failure. The people wanted a king but there eyes were not on the true King. In the Hebrew canon Samuel follows Judges which ends in 21:25 by relating how Israel had no king and the people did as they saw fit. So Samuel/Kings continues the theme that the people still truly had no King since they constantly strayed from the true King and thus did what they thought was right to them, and not God. This is as true today as it was then, that when our focus is taken off of the true King we all turn to doing what we feel is right. Just look at the problems that have happened in New Orleans, when any semblance of restraint is removed and peoples focus is on themselves and nothing else..

Another issue is that in Samuel/Kings the people saw the success of the peoples around them and wanted to be just like them. This was the original reason they wanted a king so what was different now. They not only thought that an earthly king would solve their problems but when they saw the success of those nations around them they wanted to be just like them and thus did just as they did. How often today does the adage “if it works it must be true” lead people and even the church to take on the characteristics of the culture that surrounds it. We also tend to want to solve problems as the world does and rely on things other than the King of Kings to deal with the issues. Just as Israel wanted a king to be like others around them and to solve there problems how often do we as Christians think that having the correct politician in office will solve our problems.

Just as with the Israelites we as believers need to rely on the true King. This does not mean we cannot be involved in other things but it does mean this is incidental to putting out true faith in God rather than man. Let us not be like Israel and put our focus on the true King and weighing all we think against the word of God. Throughout Samuel/Kings the prophets who represent the word of God are ever present and so the word of God needs to be with us today.

Let us do what is right in the eyes of God not what is right in our own eyes.

Grace and Peace to You,

Tony