Thursday, February 4, 2010
Don’t Take it Personally
(I Samuel 8:7-9)
Admittedly, Samuel’s sons had not taken after their godly father. Their behavior had become so notorious as to garner the censure of the elders. The elders’ request to Samuel was simple: Replace the judgeships of your sons with a king. Though their request was a personal offense to Samuel, he determined to bring the matter to the Lord in prayer—rather than just reject their suggestion out of hand.
Both the Lord’s response and rationale probably surprised Samuel. God told Samuel to do as the people requested (7). And then He gave Samuel His rationale: “…they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” In other words, the Lord told Samuel not to take the elders’ request personally. God revealed that their request sprang from a rejection of Him, not a rejection of Samuel or his unworthy sons.
At first glance, the request of the elders appears reasonable. After all, Samuel’s sons weren’t exactly paragons of virtue. The elders’ motives, however, were not so easily discerned by Samuel. God, who knows the hearts, understood that the elders viewed the failure of Samuel’s sons as an opportunity to forward their own agenda—the crowning of a king. And without so much as a prayer for divine guidance, the elders pressed their agenda upon Samuel in an hour of personal crisis.
God assured Samuel that their request was, in reality, a rejection of His divine authority—not Samuel’s ministry nor his sons, per se. Their rebellion surfaced when opportunity arose, and God saw through the entire debacle. Lesson: Be careful about taking criticism personally. Don’t worry so much about what folks say; just make sure you’re on God’s side!
