The Man After God’s Own Heart (Part One)
Something like a hundred pages of my Bible are devoted to the account of Israel’s first two kings, Saul and David. It’s an engaging story but God has more in mind than entertaining us with history; we need to learn what the Holy Spirit would teach us from the lives of these two kings. For, in our day the same drama is being played out again in the church of Jesus Christ.
Let us plunge right into the story. Israel had asked God for a king so they could be like the nations around them. This displeased the Lord, for His intention with Israel was to make them very different from the nations. But when Samuel protested that their desire was not of God, and that the king they wanted would use them to advance his own kingdom and interests, they refused to listen. “Nay, but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like the nations…” (1 Sam. 8.19). So God gave them their hearts’ desire—something that you and I should remember when we persist in asking God for something that He has indicated is not His will. We might just get what we ask for… to our sorrow.
A Call To The Remnant 