A Defective View of God

Last week we studied 1 Samuel 12. It starts off with Saumel asking the people if he has ever done anything wrong for them. They say emphatically, NO! Then he makes the case that God has only done good by them. What is all this about?

When something goes wrong we tend to blame others rather than looking at ourselves to find the cause of the problem. This chapter lays out a case that Israel's sinful act of asking for a king was not their leader's fault, and not God's fault, but was due to their habitually forgetting God and following their own ways. When we do knuckleheaded things, it is a symptom of a greater disease: We hold a defective view of God. We see him as small or insignificant and find other things to try to replace his rightful position in our lives - as our king.

As we saw before that any smaller god will fall in the presence of Almighty God (i.e. Dagon) we need to awe the Lord.

Verse 14 - If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you and your king.

After God showed his power, here's how they responded: 19 And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king."

And here's the word for what they should do: 20 And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at some defective views of God and how to correct them. I hope you'll stay tuned!