1 Samuel 8

"And we shall be, also we, like all the nations, so that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles" (1 Sam 8:20).

Israel wants a king. They want a king so that they might be like the other nations. They want a king to serve them and lead them into battle. The problem is, they already had that. They had God, who was willing to do all these things for them. They had what we call a Theocracy, (God-lead) government. They wanted a monarchy (Manlead or manarchy). Let us look at the problems with a Theocracy.

1. Theocracy forces you to abide by God's laws
2. Theocracy means you have to walk in faith
3. Theocracy means you cannot do whatever you want to do

Now let us look at the positives:

1. They had a King who was all-knowing
2. They had a King who would serve them
3. They had a King who would love them

Compare with Monarchy:

1. Monarchy is man lead, which inevitably means the king will do what is best for him rather than his people
2. Monarchy is lead by an imperfect selfish individual
3. Monarchy trusts in the wisdom of man

Positives:

1. You are like the rest of the world...if that is really a positive
2. You have your strength in something you can see

Israel is startiing to become just like everybody else. This is the goal of Satan. He wants to make Christians and chosen people of God to look like everybody else. It always starts in subtle ways, but it grows. Think about your walk and what may make it look like the rest of the world. There is a word for this and it is called compromise. Now think of your life and how it can contrast the rest of the world. There is a word for this and it is purity. When you live pure, you live 100% one thing. To have pure orange juice is to have nothing but oranges in your cup. To live purely is to be white as snow. It is to have this tremendous contrast between you and the world. Have contrast in your life. Live purely for Jesus. Refrain from being like everybody else.

This is a big issue so remember to help eachother. Pray for eachother through out this week. When you see a brother or sister start to compromise their pure relationship with Jesus, challenge them. As Youth following God, let us help each other through prayer.