Have you ever asked for something, got what you asked for and then after further consideration realized you should not have asked for what you originally asked for? We all have done this. In the moment we think we want one thing, only later to find out we didn’t really want what we thought we wanted so badly in the moment we asked for it.

Israel told the prophet Samuel they wanted a king, despite Samuel warning them they did not know what they were asking for, but they gave three reasons why they wanted a king. “And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 1. that we also may be like all the nations, and 2. that our king may judge us and 3. That our king will go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8)

Samuel the prophet told them the Lord wants to be your king and they said, NO! We want an earthly king. Oh friends, how often do we want from men what God has already said He wants to be for us? More often than we will ever admit. We ask for things we think we want, but we end up getting what we never wanted.

God wanted them to be a different kind of nation; they wanted to be like all the other nations. God wanted to be judge of them; they wanted to be judged by men. God wanted to fight their battles for them; they wanted a man to fight their battles for them. A man became their god and in becoming so, God was no longer the one they leaned on or depended on.

Friends, it is subtle, it is sneaky, and it is serious to ask for a man to be your king, when God has already declared He is your King of kings and Lord of lords. If we need to repent of anything personally, corporately and nationally it is for asking God to give us a king, when He is our King. We need leaders, we need authority, we need men, but a king, nope, we have a King and His name is Jesus.