Don’t you see that attitude and its accompanying attitude expression quite frequently?! I have seen people who want to be “in charge.” On the contrary, sometimes what they may be saying in a round-a-bout way is that they say that, but not necessarily do they want to do the work it entails to say one thing and do something else.
In retrospect, Jesus would say something similar about the Pharisees, elders, and others. Don’t do what they do. Don’t do what they say, because it’s contradictory. He called them hypocrites…saying one thing and doing something else.
Israel did many wrongs. Many wrongs were committed against Israel. One commentator says something like, “No nation will go unpunished when they lash out at Israel.” One might ask, “Why does the Lord watch over Israel so carefully?” Israel is the world’s representative of what God loves and who He loves. He makes His point that He is for those who are for Him. So, that doesn’t only mean Israel.
Israel is a portrait of His “love.” And he tells us, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Yes, that’s a commanding statement. Israel falls back, but the Lord doesn’t forget the example He has chosen. Israel backtracks, but He leans into Israel reminding them as an example of how much He cares for us all.
There is the repeated reminder of Jehovah bringing them out of Egypt after hundreds of years of slavery. He never lets them forget. As the Prophet Samuel was getting old, they wanted another kind of leadership. They didn’t want “the Monarch” anymore. But, insisted on having a real king like the “other nations.”
Samuel was (I believe) very hurt over this betrayal against the Almighty God. God said, (in effect) “Don’t let it worry you, Samuel. They are not rejecting you. They are rejecting me.” God told Samuel, “The Lord told me to inform you what to expect this new king who reigns over you to do – your sons will serve with the chariots and horses run in front of the chariots.
“Some will plow his grounds and reap his harvest. Your daughters will be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He will take your property and the best of your fields and vineyard, olive groves and give them away. He will take the best of your cattle, a tenth of your grain to give to his attendants. Your sons and daughters will be weapons of war. He will take some (many) for slaves.
They still could not see the light. The Lord spoke to Samuel and “told him to let them have what they want. Give them a king.”
Now, you may not be able to actually see or visualize what will happen to your property and other material belongings; but you may not realize what has happened until it’s too late. In a socialist society is where you lose ownership all communities of society operated by a community of people sharing in the work and the production.
When you think about this concept, it takes on many prongs. In this instance, we have the government take on the position of “the state,” where the state owns everything and dictates what individuals are to do and not do. Individual decision-making is skimmed off. You have to go along with the masses because you’re no longer thinking as an individual.
We have many things right now that are happening on that level. Our children are going away to schools and colleges in societies where individual thought is meshed into “whatever” and is being stirred up into a mishmash of unrealistic thinking where some young people see what others are doing and they lose track of their morals and come back being convinced they are girls, even they’re born boys, or they’re born girls, and they think they’re boys.
Now, the last thing I want to point out to you and that is children need to be taught at home. Some parents believe this, and some do not believe in it all. abstinence. Raise your boys as young men and your girls as young women if that’s what you want. Train up your child in the way he/she should go. Don’t be afraid of them.
One more thing, I hope you are not deceived into thinking that God is going to change His mind. He will not.
Thanks for reading! Jeanette Grattan Parker is the founder-superintendent of Today’s Fresh Start Charter School, 4514 Crenshaw Boulevard, L.A. 90043, 323-293-9826, www.todaysfreshstart.org, (Ask Dr. Jeanette TM) “Inquiring Minds Want to Know.” All articles are copyright. All rights reserved © Errors? Or Questions? Please let me know. Join Sundays for music and message at 11:30 a.m. by calling (712) 775-8971, code 266751. References: The Holy Bible, 1 Samuel 8-9. Don’t stop praying and hoping. “Today is another great day to do good and be successful.”
