November 24, 2025 • 28 mins
When everyday life blurs into routine, it’s easy to chase quick fixes that look strong on the surface. Our conversation traces Israel’s turning point in 1 Samuel 8—when the people asked for a king like the other nations—and unpacks why impatience often taxes the future. We look at the warning God gave through Samuel about the hidden costs of human systems: conscription, taxation, and a creeping loss of freedom. That ancient caution sounds uncomfortably modern, especially when comparison and pressure make shortcuts feel irresistible.
We share why comparison edits reality, why covenant identity beats cultural approval, and how spiritual compromise can blind even sincere people. You’ll hear a practical framework for healthy transitions: name the real problem without forcing the solution, test desires for fear or envy, count long-term costs, and honor God’s timing. We also speak candidly about leadership pressure and people-pleasing—how urgency can push us toward “Saul” solutions while God quietly prepares a “David” in the wings. Along the way, we return to gospel-centered identity: citizens of an eternal kingdom, co-heirs with Christ, empowered by resurrection life to wait well and lead with courage.
If you’re standing at a crossroads—tired of the mundane, tempted by quick wins, or feeling the weight of others’ expectations—this episode offers clarity, biblical insight, and steady hope. Listen to learn how to resist deceptive appearances, embrace wise pacing, and make choices that align with God’s heart. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s rushing a big decision, and leave a review with the toughest wait you’re facing right now.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
The longer I live, the more I realize that Earth is
quite an amazing place to live,to say the least.
We have some of the mostbeautiful things a person could
ever hope to see and experienceon planet Earth.
(00:59):
And at the same time, we havesome of the most challenging
things that a person could everdream about going through on
planet Earth.
And there are transitions thattake place in our time spent on
(01:25):
planet Earth.
We live in the realm of time andspace, carved into eternity.
It's an amazing thing.
We can only learn certain thingsin this place.
We can't learn anywhere else.
It requires time, it requiresspace, it requires us living on
(01:46):
earth in order to go throughthings that prepare us for the
next place and station in life.
That's an amazing truth.
The fact that what's takingplace is not just same old, same
old, even though it feels likethat sometimes.
(02:07):
It feels like all we're doing isgoing through each day, and it
kind of bleeds into the nextday, and there's not really all
that much going on.
Until, right?
Until there's a transition thattakes place.
(02:28):
And then it is temptation foreveryone during that time of
transition to say, well, havingthat mundane life wasn't all
that bad after all.
And can't we just go back and dothings that way all the time?
(02:50):
Let's just go back and do thatwhole way of living again.
Except it doesn't work that way.
Especially when we are members,citizens of the kingdom of God,
when we've been bornsupernaturally as citizens, as
(03:14):
sons and daughters, as childreninto the kingdom of God, where
we have all the rights, the samerights, the same privileges, the
same access points that Jesushas made available to us because
we have become co heirs with himby virtue of the fact that he
(03:37):
shed his blood on our behalf.
He was the sacrifice that wasoffered up that made it possible
for us to have a true, alive,living, healthy relationship
with our Heavenly Father, withGod.
(03:58):
Relationship with God, not justhaving relationship with Him,
but having His life imparted tous as a gift.
The very life of God, the samepower, the same life that caused
Jesus to rise from the dead,dwells in us.
(04:20):
Resurrection life, resurrectionpower.
We are citizens of a kingdomthat is an eternal kingdom.
It's everlasting.
It is the supreme, highestranking ruling kingdom that
there is.
And we've been called into it bythe very fact that Jesus made it
(04:43):
possible for us if we believe inwho He is, and we enter into
covenant with Him, meaning wegive Him with ours and He takes
it, and He gives us what's Hisand we receive it.
(05:06):
Powerful.
Our sins nailed to the crossalong with Jesus.
All the sins that we couldpossibly commit, the ones we
previously were involved in, theones that we might be committing
right now, and the ones that wemight commit in the future, all
nailed to the cross.
(05:28):
We are dead to that old nature.
And yet it still tries to findan expression when we make
choices that align ourselveswith the powers of darkness.
So what we're doing in thisparticular podcast episode is
(05:48):
we're kind of taking a step backagain and looking at Israel, and
we're looking at the book of 1Samuel because we're kind of
parked in that particular book.
We're finding a lot of insightsthat are written, make
application for us today, goodapplication.
(06:12):
And so in chapter eight of 1Samuel, there's a key
transitional time that we'relooking at.
And in this particular portionof Scripture, Israel is asking
(06:33):
for a king.
A king just like the othernations had.
(06:55):
And he promised that if theymaintained the covenant
conditions with him, that theimpact of his kingdom flowing to
Israel and through Israel wouldimpact the nations.
It would be a blessing to thenations.
But if not, they would fallunder the chastisement of the
(07:22):
Lord Himself.
And so Israel has reached apoint in their daily living
where they didn't want to beruled by God anymore.
(07:44):
They wanted to have a king likethe other nations because they
saw something there that theythought they needed and wanted.
And isn't that the case when welook outside of what we have
been given?
And we look at others, and theappearance is that they have
something better.
Even though what they have isinferior, it appears as though
(08:13):
it's better.
It's deceptive by nature.
You see, this has been going ona long, long time.
This has been going on since thevery creation of mankind, since
the Garden of Eden experience,where the serpent came into the
garden and deceived Adam and Eveinto rebelling against God and
(08:41):
falling into the same condition,Satan, and that is his
rebellious nature became sin anddeath, that then became the very
nature of mankind was sin anddeath.
We received that when we placeour allegiance at that time
(09:04):
under the rulership of Satan andhis kingdom.
When I say we, I'm sayingmankind.
Because within the loins of Adamand within the eggs of Eve, we
were all found in there in thebeginning.
(09:27):
Just like Abraham was to becomea father of many nations.
SPEAKER_01 (09:37):
Yet he was one man.
SPEAKER_00 (09:39):
How could that be except that the nations were in
the very loins of Abraham?
Powerful what God has placedwithin us.
How we fit into his master planintricately, each one of us.
And so there's a plan going on.
(09:59):
There has been a plan from thebeginning.
That beginning plan was formankind to colonize planet earth
with God's kingdom.
That his kingdom, his invisiblekingdom, would become visible on
planet earth, and that hiskingdom would cover the earth.
(10:20):
That the glory of the Lord, themanifestation of his kingdom,
would cover the earth as thewaters cover the sea.
Well, his glory, his kingdomwould be manifest all throughout
the earth through his people, aswe would multiply and take
dominion and subdue the earthand manage it in the very name
(10:50):
of God.
Hallelujah.
Except mankind fell.
And then there became a clash, akingdom clash.
And it's always been a kingdomclash from that point on, and we
see it manifesting in Israelwhen they wanted to switch over
(11:20):
from having God being theirking, from them being the chosen
nation of God to bless all theother nations, they chose to
look at what the other nationshad and said they have it better
than we have it.
And so we're picking up thisparticular transitional point in
(11:43):
the nation of Israel and in theleadership of one of their
judges.
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
In fact, the last judge, and that was and is the
prophet Samuel.
SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
And so we read in Samuel chapter eight, beginning
verse one, I'm gonna read theentire chapter.
The scripture says, When Samuelgrew old, he appointed his sons
as judges for Israel.
The name of his firstborn wasJoel, the name of his second was
Abijah, and they served atBeersheba.
(12:25):
But his sons did not walk in hisways.
They turned aside afterdishonest gain and accepted
bribes and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israelgathered together and came to
Samuel at Rama.
They said to him, You are oldand your sons do not walk in
(12:49):
your ways.
Now appoint a king to lead us,such as the other nations have.
But when they said, Give us aking to lead us, this displeased
Samuel.
So he prayed to the Lord, andthe Lord told him, Listen to all
the people are saying to you.
(13:12):
It is not you they haverejected, but they have rejected
me as their king.
As they have done from the day Ibrought them up out of Egypt
until this day, forsaking me andserving other gods, so they are
doing to you.
Now listen to them, but warnthem solemnly and let them know
(13:34):
what the king will reign overthem, what and let them know
what the king who will reignover them will do.
So Samuel told all the words ofthe Lord to the people who were
asking him for a king.
He said, This is what a king whowill reign over you will do.
(13:58):
He will take your sons and makethem serve him with his chariots
and horses, and they will run infront of his chariots.
Some will assign to commandersof thousands and commanders of
fifties, and others to ploughhis ground and reap his harvest,
and still others make weapons ofwar and equip for his chariot
(14:18):
and equipment for his chariots.
He will take your daughters tobe perfumers and cooks and
bakers.
He will take the best of yourfields and vineyards and olive
groves and give them to hisattendants.
He will take a tenth of yourgrain and of your vintage and
give it to his officials andattendants.
Your men servants and yourmaidservants, and the best of
(14:41):
your cattle and donkeys will hewill take for his use.
He will take a tenth of yourflocks, and you yourselves will
become his slaves.
When that day comes, you willcry out for relief from the king
you have chosen, and the Lordwill not answer you in that day.
But the people refused to listento Samuel.
(15:01):
No, they said, We want a kingover us.
Then we will be like all theother nations, with a king, and
he will lead us and go outbefore us, fight our battles.
When Samuel heard all that thepeople said, he repeated it
before the Lord, the Lordanswered, Listen to them and
give them a king.
(15:22):
Then Samuel said to the men ofIsrael, Everyone go back to his
own town.
Transitions, right?
Now Samuel had served for aboutforty years as the chief judge
(15:45):
or decision maker in Israelunderneath the headship, the
kingship of God.
And he had done a very good job,except he didn't do a very good
job raising his sons, becausethey didn't walk in his ways.
Much like Eli's sons did notwalk in his ways, and Eli was
(16:08):
one who really raised Samuel.
Well, what he saw Eli doapparently he imitated because
Samuel's sons did not walk inhis ways, and the people didn't
want to have his sons rule them.
And so instead of praying to Godfor a different solution, they
(16:30):
wanted a king like the othernations had, because they were
looking around at the othernations, saying to themselves,
they have it better.
We want to do what they're doingbecause it looks like they're
having a better time at it,also.
Because they were fulfilling allthe lusts of their flesh.
And from the outside, it lookedlike they were having a
(16:53):
free-for-all.
Like they were having a greattime, and they were literally
oppressing Israel in theprocess.
So Israel thought, well, if wehave a king, we can go to battle
against them, and then we willdo to them what they're doing to
us.
Well, that's not the purposebehind transitions.
(17:18):
And interestingly enough, therewas a transition that was taking
place, and God was initiatingit, and his kingdom was
advancing according to God'splan.
But the people in Israelcouldn't see that because they
(17:42):
had allowed themselves to beginto compromise their relationship
with God and began serving othergods, thus blinding them and
prohibiting them from having anykind of good, real, healthy
relationship with the livingGod, because they were serving
(18:03):
idols, lesser gods, and doingthe things that they required to
appease them.
And some of the things werevery, very lewd and very, very
(18:25):
disheartening when it came tothe value of human life.
But that wasn't what they saw onthe surface.
What they saw was a peoplearound them who were prospering
and having a good time, whereasIsrael didn't seem to have it
going as well because of theircompromise.
(18:49):
Where previously they had beenthe ones who were the envy of
the nations, feared by othernations because of the greatness
of God, and yet they suddenlygave themselves over to looking
at the way other people aredoing things.
(19:09):
And isn't that the case, onceagain, within our own lives,
when we begin to look outside ofour own relationship with God,
if you have one, and look toother people who don't have a
relationship with God at all,and don't care to have one, and
(19:36):
blatantly live their lives outto please nothing other than
their own flesh, and it looksenjoyable, and it looks like
they have it easier, but in allreality, looks are deceiving,
and it's not that way, it'sactually a heavier lifestyle.
(19:57):
Sin and death are heavy, guiltis heavy, and all of that is
part of the kingdom of darkness.
Guilt, fear, shame, all thatstuff, that negative negative
pressure.
You have to put on a real kindof a facade in order to not look
(20:22):
like you're always miserablebecause of the weight and guilt
that comes along with the shameof living a life outside of
covenant with God.
And so there are ways in whichtransitions can take place that
(20:45):
are good, and there are waysthat take place that are
unhealthy.
And Israel was choosing anunhealthy way to go through
transition by demanding to havethings the way that other people
had them.
In other words, they're sayingto God, we don't want to do
(21:09):
things according to the way thatyou have things laid out.
We want to do things the waythat we see the other people
doing things.
And their gods are moreappealing to us than you.
Talk about a blatant rejection.
And oftentimes that's the case,where people one day decide,
(21:33):
well, you know what, I'm nolonger gonna serve God.
I just don't think that it'sworth it anymore.
I'm just gonna I'm gonna cashit.
Too hard.
This life is too hard, it's toorestrictive.
I don't think I can do it.
You know, I had it better when Iwas just doing it on my own
before.
Or I see other people have itbetter than I do.
(21:54):
Let me just look to them becauseit looks like they have it going
on.
I don't really have it going on.
Well, you know, I I I'm kind ofconfused.
You know, things can get inlife, things can get confusing,
and that's when we start feelinglike, well, we need to do
something.
Something's gotta happen,something's gotta change.
And true, transitions do feellike that when they are being
(22:18):
initiated by God that somethingneeds to change, but they don't
have that helterskelter feel tothem.
Well, we need to make a decisionnow, versus going through the
process of change.
You see, God was going to giveIsrael a ruler that was one that
(22:44):
was after his own heart, andthat was going to be David.
And he had David in the wings,but it wasn't time for David to
come forward yet.
But the people wanted a kingnow.
But we want, we want it now,right?
We want it now, we don't want towait, can't wait, can't wait,
can't wait, can't wait.
We want it now, instead ofwaiting for God's timing,
(23:08):
because sometimes it feels likeit's never gonna happen, and we
take it those matters into ourown hands, which is a mistake.
And if you're a leader, you canfeel the pressure of people.
If you're a person who haspeople-pleasing tendencies or
the fear of man in your systemstill, people can put pressure
(23:31):
on you to do things that youdon't necessarily want to do,
but they're looking to you to dosomething because you're the
leader, and the pressure to dosomething on behalf of the
people can really be verysignificant, but when the Lord
(23:57):
says something, that's when it'sbest we obey.
And sometimes there are thingsthat we don't see going on that
God has a view of that's betterthan ours, and he wants us to
(24:20):
trust him because he can seethings more clearly, and wants
to give us every opportunity todo things together with him.
And so we're gonna be looking atways in which we can comply with
God versus falling into thetemptation of doing things
(24:42):
during a time of transition.
That is what Israel did, andthat they wanted a king and they
got a king, and it was adisaster.
For the 40 years that Saul wasking, the majority of it was
problematic.
There were some victories, butoften they came as a result of
(25:04):
David being by Saul's side.
So God had something in store,but the people wanted a king to
look like the other nations.
Where God had something betterif they would have waited.
(25:25):
And I think that's a key elementfor us to really understand, and
that is that God has our bestinterests in mind.
And during a time of transition,he really does care about the
fact that you've been goingthrough life, and sometimes it
(25:46):
feels like it's just so daily,and that a change is needed in
order for us to grow.
Even though once it startshappening, then we revert back
to, well, it might have beenbetter the other way.
Or we want to do it like thesepeople are doing it.
But in all reality, it's bestwhen we embrace the way God
(26:10):
wants it done.
Because then He will fulfill thedesires of our heart by giving
us the right desires and usdesiring the right things in
agreement with him.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
And it frees God up to manifest them in a very real
and tangible way.
Hallelujah.
Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
Father, thank you, God, for who you are and for
what you're doing and how you'redoing it.
And I ask that you would fill uswith wisdom and revelation, to
know you better and patienceduring times of transition to
hear you, to clearly, clearly,clearly hear you, without a
(27:07):
doubt to know that it's you,instead of going on our own
impulses.
And as leaders, teach us not tojust give in to the desires and
the pressures of other people,but to live according to your
word and to speak strong thingswhen necessary.
(27:39):
Help us be more and more likeJesus in our approaches to how
we live life with you and withone another, and how we impact
the world around us.
Teach us your ways, Lord.
Show us your paths so we canwalk like Jesus by the power of
(28:05):
your spirit.
And we stand here in his nameand we say amen.
Amen.
Amen.
All right, folks, we love you.
And if you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line at lifearound the fire at gmail.com or
type in Life Around the Fire andlook us up on the web.
We would love to hear from you.
(28:26):
In the meantime, God bless you.
Adios, amigos.
The longer I live, the more I realize that Earth is
quite an amazing place to live,to say the least.
We have some of the mostbeautiful things a person could
ever hope to see and experienceon planet Earth.
(00:59):
And at the same time, we havesome of the most challenging
things that a person could everdream about going through on
planet Earth.
And there are transitions thattake place in our time spent on
(01:25):
planet Earth.
We live in the realm of time andspace, carved into eternity.
It's an amazing thing.
We can only learn certain thingsin this place.
We can't learn anywhere else.
It requires time, it requiresspace, it requires us living on
(01:46):
earth in order to go throughthings that prepare us for the
next place and station in life.
That's an amazing truth.
The fact that what's takingplace is not just same old, same
old, even though it feels likethat sometimes.
(02:07):
It feels like all we're doing isgoing through each day, and it
kind of bleeds into the nextday, and there's not really all
that much going on.
Until, right?
Until there's a transition thattakes place.
(02:28):
And then it is temptation foreveryone during that time of
transition to say, well, havingthat mundane life wasn't all
that bad after all.
And can't we just go back and dothings that way all the time?
(02:50):
Let's just go back and do thatwhole way of living again.
Except it doesn't work that way.
Especially when we are members,citizens of the kingdom of God,
when we've been bornsupernaturally as citizens, as
(03:14):
sons and daughters, as childreninto the kingdom of God, where
we have all the rights, the samerights, the same privileges, the
same access points that Jesushas made available to us because
we have become co heirs with himby virtue of the fact that he
(03:37):
shed his blood on our behalf.
He was the sacrifice that wasoffered up that made it possible
for us to have a true, alive,living, healthy relationship
with our Heavenly Father, withGod.
(03:58):
Relationship with God, not justhaving relationship with Him,
but having His life imparted tous as a gift.
The very life of God, the samepower, the same life that caused
Jesus to rise from the dead,dwells in us.
(04:20):
Resurrection life, resurrectionpower.
We are citizens of a kingdomthat is an eternal kingdom.
It's everlasting.
It is the supreme, highestranking ruling kingdom that
there is.
And we've been called into it bythe very fact that Jesus made it
(04:43):
possible for us if we believe inwho He is, and we enter into
covenant with Him, meaning wegive Him with ours and He takes
it, and He gives us what's Hisand we receive it.
(05:06):
Powerful.
Our sins nailed to the crossalong with Jesus.
All the sins that we couldpossibly commit, the ones we
previously were involved in, theones that we might be committing
right now, and the ones that wemight commit in the future, all
nailed to the cross.
(05:28):
We are dead to that old nature.
And yet it still tries to findan expression when we make
choices that align ourselveswith the powers of darkness.
So what we're doing in thisparticular podcast episode is
(05:48):
we're kind of taking a step backagain and looking at Israel, and
we're looking at the book of 1Samuel because we're kind of
parked in that particular book.
We're finding a lot of insightsthat are written, make
application for us today, goodapplication.
(06:12):
And so in chapter eight of 1Samuel, there's a key
transitional time that we'relooking at.
And in this particular portionof Scripture, Israel is asking
(06:33):
for a king.
A king just like the othernations had.
(06:55):
And he promised that if theymaintained the covenant
conditions with him, that theimpact of his kingdom flowing to
Israel and through Israel wouldimpact the nations.
It would be a blessing to thenations.
But if not, they would fallunder the chastisement of the
(07:22):
Lord Himself.
And so Israel has reached apoint in their daily living
where they didn't want to beruled by God anymore.
(07:44):
They wanted to have a king likethe other nations because they
saw something there that theythought they needed and wanted.
And isn't that the case when welook outside of what we have
been given?
And we look at others, and theappearance is that they have
something better.
Even though what they have isinferior, it appears as though
(08:13):
it's better.
It's deceptive by nature.
You see, this has been going ona long, long time.
This has been going on since thevery creation of mankind, since
the Garden of Eden experience,where the serpent came into the
garden and deceived Adam and Eveinto rebelling against God and
(08:41):
falling into the same condition,Satan, and that is his
rebellious nature became sin anddeath, that then became the very
nature of mankind was sin anddeath.
We received that when we placeour allegiance at that time
(09:04):
under the rulership of Satan andhis kingdom.
When I say we, I'm sayingmankind.
Because within the loins of Adamand within the eggs of Eve, we
were all found in there in thebeginning.
(09:27):
Just like Abraham was to becomea father of many nations.
SPEAKER_01 (09:37):
Yet he was one man.
SPEAKER_00 (09:39):
How could that be except that the nations were in
the very loins of Abraham?
Powerful what God has placedwithin us.
How we fit into his master planintricately, each one of us.
And so there's a plan going on.
(09:59):
There has been a plan from thebeginning.
That beginning plan was formankind to colonize planet earth
with God's kingdom.
That his kingdom, his invisiblekingdom, would become visible on
planet earth, and that hiskingdom would cover the earth.
(10:20):
That the glory of the Lord, themanifestation of his kingdom,
would cover the earth as thewaters cover the sea.
Well, his glory, his kingdomwould be manifest all throughout
the earth through his people, aswe would multiply and take
dominion and subdue the earthand manage it in the very name
(10:50):
of God.
Hallelujah.
Except mankind fell.
And then there became a clash, akingdom clash.
And it's always been a kingdomclash from that point on, and we
see it manifesting in Israelwhen they wanted to switch over
(11:20):
from having God being theirking, from them being the chosen
nation of God to bless all theother nations, they chose to
look at what the other nationshad and said they have it better
than we have it.
And so we're picking up thisparticular transitional point in
(11:43):
the nation of Israel and in theleadership of one of their
judges.
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
In fact, the last judge, and that was and is the
prophet Samuel.
SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
And so we read in Samuel chapter eight, beginning
verse one, I'm gonna read theentire chapter.
The scripture says, When Samuelgrew old, he appointed his sons
as judges for Israel.
The name of his firstborn wasJoel, the name of his second was
Abijah, and they served atBeersheba.
(12:25):
But his sons did not walk in hisways.
They turned aside afterdishonest gain and accepted
bribes and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israelgathered together and came to
Samuel at Rama.
They said to him, You are oldand your sons do not walk in
(12:49):
your ways.
Now appoint a king to lead us,such as the other nations have.
But when they said, Give us aking to lead us, this displeased
Samuel.
So he prayed to the Lord, andthe Lord told him, Listen to all
the people are saying to you.
(13:12):
It is not you they haverejected, but they have rejected
me as their king.
As they have done from the day Ibrought them up out of Egypt
until this day, forsaking me andserving other gods, so they are
doing to you.
Now listen to them, but warnthem solemnly and let them know
(13:34):
what the king will reign overthem, what and let them know
what the king who will reignover them will do.
So Samuel told all the words ofthe Lord to the people who were
asking him for a king.
He said, This is what a king whowill reign over you will do.
(13:58):
He will take your sons and makethem serve him with his chariots
and horses, and they will run infront of his chariots.
Some will assign to commandersof thousands and commanders of
fifties, and others to ploughhis ground and reap his harvest,
and still others make weapons ofwar and equip for his chariot
(14:18):
and equipment for his chariots.
He will take your daughters tobe perfumers and cooks and
bakers.
He will take the best of yourfields and vineyards and olive
groves and give them to hisattendants.
He will take a tenth of yourgrain and of your vintage and
give it to his officials andattendants.
Your men servants and yourmaidservants, and the best of
(14:41):
your cattle and donkeys will hewill take for his use.
He will take a tenth of yourflocks, and you yourselves will
become his slaves.
When that day comes, you willcry out for relief from the king
you have chosen, and the Lordwill not answer you in that day.
But the people refused to listento Samuel.
(15:01):
No, they said, We want a kingover us.
Then we will be like all theother nations, with a king, and
he will lead us and go outbefore us, fight our battles.
When Samuel heard all that thepeople said, he repeated it
before the Lord, the Lordanswered, Listen to them and
give them a king.
(15:22):
Then Samuel said to the men ofIsrael, Everyone go back to his
own town.
Transitions, right?
Now Samuel had served for aboutforty years as the chief judge
(15:45):
or decision maker in Israelunderneath the headship, the
kingship of God.
And he had done a very good job,except he didn't do a very good
job raising his sons, becausethey didn't walk in his ways.
Much like Eli's sons did notwalk in his ways, and Eli was
(16:08):
one who really raised Samuel.
Well, what he saw Eli doapparently he imitated because
Samuel's sons did not walk inhis ways, and the people didn't
want to have his sons rule them.
And so instead of praying to Godfor a different solution, they
(16:30):
wanted a king like the othernations had, because they were
looking around at the othernations, saying to themselves,
they have it better.
We want to do what they're doingbecause it looks like they're
having a better time at it,also.
Because they were fulfilling allthe lusts of their flesh.
And from the outside, it lookedlike they were having a
(16:53):
free-for-all.
Like they were having a greattime, and they were literally
oppressing Israel in theprocess.
So Israel thought, well, if wehave a king, we can go to battle
against them, and then we willdo to them what they're doing to
us.
Well, that's not the purposebehind transitions.
(17:18):
And interestingly enough, therewas a transition that was taking
place, and God was initiatingit, and his kingdom was
advancing according to God'splan.
But the people in Israelcouldn't see that because they
(17:42):
had allowed themselves to beginto compromise their relationship
with God and began serving othergods, thus blinding them and
prohibiting them from having anykind of good, real, healthy
relationship with the livingGod, because they were serving
(18:03):
idols, lesser gods, and doingthe things that they required to
appease them.
And some of the things werevery, very lewd and very, very
(18:25):
disheartening when it came tothe value of human life.
But that wasn't what they saw onthe surface.
What they saw was a peoplearound them who were prospering
and having a good time, whereasIsrael didn't seem to have it
going as well because of theircompromise.
(18:49):
Where previously they had beenthe ones who were the envy of
the nations, feared by othernations because of the greatness
of God, and yet they suddenlygave themselves over to looking
at the way other people aredoing things.
(19:09):
And isn't that the case, onceagain, within our own lives,
when we begin to look outside ofour own relationship with God,
if you have one, and look toother people who don't have a
relationship with God at all,and don't care to have one, and
(19:36):
blatantly live their lives outto please nothing other than
their own flesh, and it looksenjoyable, and it looks like
they have it easier, but in allreality, looks are deceiving,
and it's not that way, it'sactually a heavier lifestyle.
(19:57):
Sin and death are heavy, guiltis heavy, and all of that is
part of the kingdom of darkness.
Guilt, fear, shame, all thatstuff, that negative negative
pressure.
You have to put on a real kindof a facade in order to not look
(20:22):
like you're always miserablebecause of the weight and guilt
that comes along with the shameof living a life outside of
covenant with God.
And so there are ways in whichtransitions can take place that
(20:45):
are good, and there are waysthat take place that are
unhealthy.
And Israel was choosing anunhealthy way to go through
transition by demanding to havethings the way that other people
had them.
In other words, they're sayingto God, we don't want to do
(21:09):
things according to the way thatyou have things laid out.
We want to do things the waythat we see the other people
doing things.
And their gods are moreappealing to us than you.
Talk about a blatant rejection.
And oftentimes that's the case,where people one day decide,
(21:33):
well, you know what, I'm nolonger gonna serve God.
I just don't think that it'sworth it anymore.
I'm just gonna I'm gonna cashit.
Too hard.
This life is too hard, it's toorestrictive.
I don't think I can do it.
You know, I had it better when Iwas just doing it on my own
before.
Or I see other people have itbetter than I do.
(21:54):
Let me just look to them becauseit looks like they have it going
on.
I don't really have it going on.
Well, you know, I I I'm kind ofconfused.
You know, things can get inlife, things can get confusing,
and that's when we start feelinglike, well, we need to do
something.
Something's gotta happen,something's gotta change.
And true, transitions do feellike that when they are being
(22:18):
initiated by God that somethingneeds to change, but they don't
have that helterskelter feel tothem.
Well, we need to make a decisionnow, versus going through the
process of change.
You see, God was going to giveIsrael a ruler that was one that
(22:44):
was after his own heart, andthat was going to be David.
And he had David in the wings,but it wasn't time for David to
come forward yet.
But the people wanted a kingnow.
But we want, we want it now,right?
We want it now, we don't want towait, can't wait, can't wait,
can't wait, can't wait.
We want it now, instead ofwaiting for God's timing,
(23:08):
because sometimes it feels likeit's never gonna happen, and we
take it those matters into ourown hands, which is a mistake.
And if you're a leader, you canfeel the pressure of people.
If you're a person who haspeople-pleasing tendencies or
the fear of man in your systemstill, people can put pressure
(23:31):
on you to do things that youdon't necessarily want to do,
but they're looking to you to dosomething because you're the
leader, and the pressure to dosomething on behalf of the
people can really be verysignificant, but when the Lord
(23:57):
says something, that's when it'sbest we obey.
And sometimes there are thingsthat we don't see going on that
God has a view of that's betterthan ours, and he wants us to
(24:20):
trust him because he can seethings more clearly, and wants
to give us every opportunity todo things together with him.
And so we're gonna be looking atways in which we can comply with
God versus falling into thetemptation of doing things
(24:42):
during a time of transition.
That is what Israel did, andthat they wanted a king and they
got a king, and it was adisaster.
For the 40 years that Saul wasking, the majority of it was
problematic.
There were some victories, butoften they came as a result of
(25:04):
David being by Saul's side.
So God had something in store,but the people wanted a king to
look like the other nations.
Where God had something betterif they would have waited.
(25:25):
And I think that's a key elementfor us to really understand, and
that is that God has our bestinterests in mind.
And during a time of transition,he really does care about the
fact that you've been goingthrough life, and sometimes it
(25:46):
feels like it's just so daily,and that a change is needed in
order for us to grow.
Even though once it startshappening, then we revert back
to, well, it might have beenbetter the other way.
Or we want to do it like thesepeople are doing it.
But in all reality, it's bestwhen we embrace the way God
(26:10):
wants it done.
Because then He will fulfill thedesires of our heart by giving
us the right desires and usdesiring the right things in
agreement with him.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
And it frees God up to manifest them in a very real
and tangible way.
Hallelujah.
Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
Father, thank you, God, for who you are and for
what you're doing and how you'redoing it.
And I ask that you would fill uswith wisdom and revelation, to
know you better and patienceduring times of transition to
hear you, to clearly, clearly,clearly hear you, without a
(27:07):
doubt to know that it's you,instead of going on our own
impulses.
And as leaders, teach us not tojust give in to the desires and
the pressures of other people,but to live according to your
word and to speak strong thingswhen necessary.
(27:39):
Help us be more and more likeJesus in our approaches to how
we live life with you and withone another, and how we impact
the world around us.
Teach us your ways, Lord.
Show us your paths so we canwalk like Jesus by the power of
(28:05):
your spirit.
And we stand here in his nameand we say amen.
Amen.
Amen.
All right, folks, we love you.
And if you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line at lifearound the fire at gmail.com or
type in Life Around the Fire andlook us up on the web.
We would love to hear from you.
(28:26):
In the meantime, God bless you.
Adios, amigos.
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