The people of Israel wanted a king so they could be like everyone else. Samuel was displeased when the people told him that they wanted a king to judge them. Samuel knew that following God was the only way that the people could be happy. Even though God punished them for their sins, God had a covenant with them that he would provide all their needs.
Maybe they wanted a king like all the other kingdoms; “We want one too so we can be like them.” Maybe the people thought that a human king would be more lenient with them than God.
Samuel, in his dismay, took the people’s request to the Lord in prayer. God told Samuel to grant the people’s request. God told Samuel that the people were not rejecting Samuel but God as their king. This is the history of all peoples throughout all ages. We reject God and try the ways of the world. After a while, we realize that the world made us worse off than we were serving God so we turn back to God for salvation.
God told Samuel to grant the people’s request. So Samuel gave the people a lengthy dissertation on the woes and pitfalls of having a king. Samuel told them how they would pay taxes and send their young men off to fight for a king; how the king would demand tithe and service for the king’s and the nation’s needs. But the people cried out that they wanted a king. God told Samuel to appoint a king over them, so he did.
How many times do we decide that we want to be like others? How often are we tempted to look and act like the world to be accepted by others? What was the outcome every time the Children of Israel turned from God to serve the gods of their neighbors? Do we really want to be like that?
Those who come to daily mass regularly are unlikely to want to be like the world. But little things creep into our lives that separate us from God. For our young people it is a different situation. The loneliness of being an outcast at school is too much for some of our young people so they give in and look and act like everyone else. Please pray for our youth that they might remain true to God each day.
Let us also pray that God will guide us in our journey of salvation that we will always bring praise, honor and glory to God by our actions here on earth.
