But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “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 8:19-20
Have you ever noticed a desire from within for something someone else has?
The Israelites wanted a King, not because they needed a king, but because everyone else had a king. There were two things they didn’t realize within this desire, however:
1) They were rejecting God as their king.
2) There were consequences to having a king.
What we don’t realize when we want something that someone else has is when God created us, each of us individually, he gave us everything we needed and the ability to do what he called us to do. He created us different for a purpose. When we begin to desire what others have, how they look, what they do, when we desire anything outside of all the gifts he’s given us, we are no longer trusting his goodness and wisdom in how he created us. And with every decision We make to be like someone or have something God didn’t design or mean for us to have, there will be consequences. Every decision, good or bad, has consequences, good and bad. So when we are doing something against God’s design, there are going to be consequences that we feel against God’s desire.
The Israelites didn’t trust God to provide for their needs and fight their battles, so they wanted another king, an earthly king to do these things for them. What they didn’t realize or believe was that with an earthly king they would have suppression, their children would have to fight battles for the king, their daughters would be taken in to work for the king. He’d take the peoples fields and land, he’d charge taxes, he’d take the best of all they had.
When God chose Israel, he chose them as his kingdom, his special people, set apart to be different than everyone else so that His Name would be Renowned.
God had already fought battles for the Israelites. He removed them from Pharaoh’s hand in Egypt. He brought them through the wilderness for 40 years, he brought them into the promised land, he gave them freedom and all the things they could have ever wanted, and they STILL wanted to be like everyone else.
We all fight this desire, to have what others have, to be like the cool kids, to change who we are called to be so that we fit in with everyone else. But God, He created YOU to be a Reflection of Him.
When we begin to manipulate who we are, we are no longer reflecting God but reflecting whatever else it is we are idolizing. With every decision we make to change who we are comes the consequences of that decision. We are no longer free to live as the person we were created to be, we are now suppressed by the chains of what or who we are trying to be.
We were made free in Christ, so there is a Cost to be anything besides who we were made to be.
I know the desire to have what I don’t have, the desire to be who I am not, the desire to fit in where I just don’t fit. It’s been a struggle all my life. But I also know God made me different and the different he made me is freeing. When I try to change who I am I feel worn out and begin to hate who I am becoming. But when I stay true to who God made me, I feel fully free to run the race he gave specifically to me.
Be who God made you to be. It is the most Beautiful, Useable, Reflection of Him.
Running 2 Fly 