Does God Indulge Us Sometimes When It Is Not Best? (1 Sam 8.6)
Samuel prayed to the LORD…
1 Samuel 8.6
Background
This mention of prayer occurs after Samuel has been serving as Israel’s prophet for a long time. Samuel’s sons, like Eli’s before him, are corrupt and have no respect for the office of the priests. The people are concerned, and so confront Samuel. They point out that he is elderly, and his sons are unfit to lead when he is gone. Instead of a judge or a prophet, they want a king to be appointed over them. Every other country has a king, they argue, why not Israel?
Samuel is upset with the request. Is it because it is a personal affront to him, or that he sees the request as a rejection of God himself? It is likely both. God is their king, and Samuel is His representative. Samuel sees this as a significant error because it rejects both God and his ambassador.
The people insist, so Samuel prays. The passage does not tell us the content of his prayer, but it does present God’s response. How God answers teaches us something about God’s responses to our prayers, too:
- God knows us well
- God’s answer may not come how we expect it
- God will sometimes give us something we really want, even if it’s not the best thing for us, because he loves us. (This is probably the most surprising lesson from this passage)
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