"As for me, I have set my King."

we are going through psalms right now at church and sunday we explored the issue of kingship and how we often rebelliously seek what we think is 'freedom' from Jesus being king over us.

"But when they said, 'Give us a king to lead us,' this was displeasing to Samuel, so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: 'Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king...'
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 8:6-7, 19-20

i love imagining what scenes like this look like. samuel's pride is wounded when the israelites tell him they want a king instead of a judge. the hebrew word for 'displeased' is ra'a', which can mean to injure, to be evil to, or to shatter/break. 'displease' just makes it sound like samuel is a little irritated, when in reality he is crushed and probably angry. yet the Lord is quick to remind him, "this story is not about you, its about Me."

Jesus please keep us from desiring to 'be like all the other nations' and trying to replace you with something less. thank you for reminding me on sunday: "As for me, I have set my King." (Psalm 2:6)

looking for justice

Oswald:
"Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it... "




really cool film projects focusing on the injustice of poverty in the world. gerry straub says in the film that "...the suffering is there not because of God, but the suffering is there because of us... and our unwillingness to share. Christ isn't looking for us to give our spare change, he wants us to give our very lives."