This post is written by Matt Stewart and is published as a companion to Unit 10, Session 1 of The Gospel Project for Adults Vol. 4 (Summer 2022): From Unity to Division.
I once made the news for my involvement in a spelunking incident. Eighth grade boys usually aren’t known for cave exploration, but that’s precisely what my junior high boys small group gained notoriety for that fateful Saturday afternoon.
We had almost reached the opposite entrance to the cave we were exploring when we found ourselves literally between a rock and a hard place. Each member of the group did their best to shimmy their way through the small path lying between the cave wall and a large rock. One of my friends, however, in his panicky state, decided he would try his own method for getting through the tight squeeze, and in doing so, managed to wedge himself so tightly that none of us could get him out. Five hours and several bottles of Crisco later, my friend was rescued. When we walked out of the cave, we were confronted by cave rescue workers, fire fighters, and several local news reporters. So, that’s how I made the news for spelunking. Did I mention I didn’t tell my parents where I had been? The first time they heard of the incident was while they watched the breaking news story on Channel 5! Needless to say, I was in a bit of trouble when I got home.
Doing Things Our Own Way
In the Old Testament, God’s people had a knack for getting themselves into trouble by doing things their own way. That’s precisely what happened in the latter days of Samuel, the prophet/judge of Israel. As the author of 1 Samuel records, “When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. His firstborn son’s name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba. However, his sons did not walk in his ways—they turned toward dishonest profit, took bribes, and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, ‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have’” (1 Sam. 8:1-5). Israel faced a tough situation: Samuel’s boys weren’t leading like their father. In fact, they needed to be replaced immediately for their immoral behavior. Instead of turning to the Lord for wisdom, however, Israel’s elders demanded for a king “as all the other nations have.” Needless to say, their demand grieved both Samuel and the Lord. The issue wasn’t with Israel having a king, since God made provision for a king in the law (Deut. 17:14-20). The problem was that they wanted a king like the nations around them. In other words, their discontentment with God led them to worship the idol in their hearts.
Getting What We Ask
Nevertheless, God granted their request. Through a series of providential events, God led Saul the son of Kish to Samuel, who anointed him as the future king of Israel. Saul was “an impressive young man. There was no one more impressive among the Israelites than he. He stood a head taller than anyone else” (1 Sam. 9:2). From all outward appearances, then, it seemed as if Israel found what it was looking for. But then the day came for the king to be identified from among God’s people. So, “Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected. Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the Matrite clan was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they searched for him, they could not find him. They again inquired of the LORD, ‘Has the man come here yet?’ The LORD replied, ‘There he is, hidden among the supplies'” (1 Sam. 10:20-22). The king who literally stood head and shoulders above everyone else couldn’t be seen at all when the time to lead came. Was Saul really the king Israel had hoped for?
In a sense, yes, Saul was exactly what Israel hoped for. He was, indeed, a king like the nations, both in appearance and in character. In another sense, however, Saul was not the king Israel was hoping for. However, not even David, the man after God’s own heart, would satisfy Israel’s desires. Jesus, the King of kings, is the leader, protector, and provider we truly need. But you cannot have Him on your own terms. Just as my spelunking friend and the nation of Israel teach us, living according to your own desires and wisdom will always result in disappointment. If we are to enjoy Christ’s loving rule in our own lives, then, we must renounce the idols of our hearts and their empty promises of satisfaction, or as Yahweh stated through the prophet Jeremiah,
“For my people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug cisterns for themselves —
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:13).
Letting God Be King
This means we all have a choice to make, and we must make the choice on God’s terms, because we cannot serve two masters. In other words, you must either worship Christ as King or self as king, with all its eternal consequences. As C.S. Lewis put it so well, “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[1]
Unlike the kings of this world and the idols of man, Jesus is “lowly and humble in heart” and in Him you will “find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29). Leave your idols behind and come to the one who alone can satisfy.
Matt Stewart is the pastor of teaching and care at Christ Community Church in Huntersville, North Carolina, and a ThM candidate at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also earned an MDiv. Matthew and his wife, Courtney, have six children.
1] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 52.