Give us a king

But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1 Samuel 8:6-9 NIV)

I wonder if God sighs.  They knew the power of God. They knew they were a chosen people. They knew they were delivered by their God from the clutches of slavery out of Egypt. They knew they were supposed to live different; apart. Yet, still they asked for a king. Not only a king, but a king such as all the other nations have.

All too often, we know the calling God has placed on our lives. All too often we know exactly what it is we should be doing and how we should be serving the kingdom, yet instead we say, ‘can’t I just be normal, like everyone else?’ I think that makes God sigh. I think he has this wonderful, beautiful plan for our lives that’s full of hard things to do and riddled with blessings from God. His master plan, fully into effect, has tugged at our hearts for years, molding us into who he needs us to be, for us to slam on the brakes at the last minute.

What is normal anyway? Who do we want to be like? Our neighbor? Our parents? Our coworkers? Our friends? Or do we want to be like Jesus? We have to choose. Normal is a myth. There is no normal and everyone has trouble; everyone has struggles. Let’s choose to be like Jesus and have him shine through us as we walk through the plan God has laid out for our lives.

Lord, I am simply speechless when I think about all that had to go into the master plan for my life.  All my life you’ve been preparing me for what lies ahead and I am constantly the one making a mess of it all.  I don’t need a king, I don’t need normal. I just need to close my eyes and follow you.