Is God Enough For You?
Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” - 1 Samuel 7:3
A few months back, I was reading in 1 Samuel about the Israelites demanding for God to give them a king. All of the nations around Israel had strong, powerful, courageous kings, so naturally Israel wanted the same. So they approached Samuel, the nation’s judge at the time, and told him that they wanted a human king instead of a having a judge, like Samuel, serving under God as their king (as if that was inferior somehow).
The story went like this, “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have’” (1 Samuel 8:4-5).
Frustrated and reluctant, Samuel went to the Lord and told Him of Israel’s request. The Lord told Samuel to do everything the Israelites were telling him to do, but He also told him to warn them of how they would be treated by a king once they received one.
Samuel obeyed and went back to the people of Israel with the warning, but they ignored him. Instead, they once again demanded a king, saying “Even so, we still want a king. We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle” (1 Samuel 8:19-20).
As I read this story, I felt so convicted. I wondered how many times I had done exactly what the Israelites had done and said, “Even so, I still want _______. I want to be like the people around me.”
Far too often, we believe that if we could just get the one thing we want, the one thing that everyone else seems to have, we’ll be happy and content. But as we ask, or even demand, that God give us what we want, we’re basically saying that He isn’t enough to satisfy our wants and our needs.
That’s exactly what the Israelites communicated, that God wasn’t enough for them, when they demanded a king like every other nation had.
Do you believe that God is truly enough for you? Do you trust that He can meet every need and fulfill every desire you have? Are you confident that He is the only one who will be endlessly faithful, unconditionally loving, and eternally trustworthy?
The king that the Israelites were given ended up causing them so much pain and disappointment because he wasn’t God. He couldn’t lead them and take care of them perfectly like the Lord could, and the people suffered because of their stubborn demands.
Don’t make the same mistake they did. Don’t believe the lie that anyone or anything on this earth could love you, lead you, and care for you the way God can. Instead, trust that in the end, He will always be enough.