1Samuel 8:7, “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them”
In the story of the prodigal son, we see a son insisting on having his inheritance now. Though the father did not approve of it, he permitted because of the hardness of his son’s heart and we know the end result.
Going back to the Israelites, God did not approve of them having a king because He knew how an earthly king would be to them. He loved them, cared for them and wanted to protect them. He explained the nature of an earthly king and what he would do to them.
1Samuel 8:10-18, “10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
This should have changed their minds. Amazingly even with the warning, they still refused. vs. 19, “Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, vs. 20, “that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles”. We have been warned some relationships will ruin our lives, they are a hindrance to serving the Lord, will put us in compromising situations, will lead us to wrong places, at times we still insist that we want them. Certain jobs and positions will make us stop praying, depending on God, going to church, stunt our growth, yet we insist that we want them. According to the word of God, we have been shown what will happen if we step out of HIS WILL and because of the hardness of our hearts we still want to do it any way.
Saul was made king and everything the Israelites were warned of was manifested in Saul’s leadership. On the other hand, Samson who was told not to be involved or even marry any woman from Philistine, he insisted and was permitted to marry and we know the end result.
I love counsel especially that of my earthly father. Through his Christ like life, experience and wisdom, every big decision I ran by him to get his wisdom and blessing, and every time he has given me a perspective of the situation I had not seen. With that I have been able to make some better judgments, permitted and approved. God gives us good leaders like Samuel to help us see things clearly when our judgment are clouded by our ambitions. Through wise counsel I have learned many times that what I want may have not been necessarily be what I need. We need to safely surround ourselves with godly Father figures, leaders who can counsel us especially on big decisions. I believe we can save ourselves a lot of heartaches if we listen to their counsel for the bible says, Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety”. If you get counsel and you insist on going the opposite, the counselor may not stop you, the road you are heading on may at some point will. Let’s listen to wise counsel that we make good judgments permitted and approved that brings glory to God. To have your way is to pronounce a death sentence on yourself. Blessings, Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 
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