“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
Ah, the
Israelites. They give us some of the best illustrations in Scripture of how not to live. In this
account,
God’s people are dissatisfied with the fact that He is ruling their nation as
king. They looked around and said to themselves, “Look at all those other nations.
They have a real king to rule them,
and see how happy they are! What we have isn’t good enough. We want our own
king too!” So off they marched to their prophet, Samuel, to make their demands.
“Give us a king!” they shouted. Samuel tried reasoning with them, but they
could not be calmed. They stomped, cried, and maybe even threw themselves to
the ground in a heap, all the while frustrating the life out of Samuel.
Has
a scene like that ever taken place in your home? It has in mine! And much like
Samuel, watching my child’s temper tantrum does not exactly make me skip for
joy. I get angry that he has disobeyed me and made our day much more
difficult than it should be. But is that the right view of my child’s sin?
After the
dust settles, God tells Samuel that the Israelites have not rejected Samuel,
but have actually rejected God Himself. The same is true in my own situation. For the
sake of the Gospel, it is imperative to teach my children that when they sin, they
are ultimately sinning against a holy God whom they have rejected as King. Their sin has separated them from God, and it must be punished. But, praise the Lord that's not how it has to end! There is a Savior who has been punished in their place so that if they believe on Him, they can be forgiven.
How very detrimental it would be to discipline out of prideful anger instead of taking an opportunity to preach Christ and His cross.
How very detrimental it would be to discipline out of prideful anger instead of taking an opportunity to preach Christ and His cross.
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