Title: plausible excuses (1 Samuel 8:1-9)
Contents
The passenger ship “Central America”, en route from New York to San Francisco, broke down in the middle of the sea, causing water to seep into the ship. Another boat passing by just saw the signal for a rescue and rushed in to transfer passengers to their own boat. Then a signal came from the broken ship, “Wait a minute. It would be confusing to move people around in the middle of the night, so please wait until dawn.” Even so, he urged them to ‘move them quickly because the lives of the passengers are in danger’, but in the end they only said ‘wait’. Then, after an hour or so, the broken ship's lights were nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, the ship sank with passengers on board. When I saw the ship that sank after failing to respond with the excuse that it was “dangerous” to rescue me, I thought it was similar to saying that God would give me grace, but people were actually refusing it with these and other excuses. Did the saying ‘there is no grave without excuses’ originated?
Everything that happens in this world has a good reason. If you do well, you have reasons for what you do well, and if you do not, there are excuses for what you do not. It is natural to live according to God's will while living a religious life, but sometimes God's will and my thoughts are different. In such cases, surprisingly, many people insist on their own will, even though they know that it is natural to give up their will and follow God's will. In such cases, most people try to justify or rationalize their assertions or ideas with plausible excuses.
Even in today's Word, we see the Israelites justifying their claims by giving plausible excuses, even though it is clearly against God's will to seek a king. It is necessary to compare the excuses they put forward with what we are today.
because Samuel is old
In the same vein, people these days argue that it is difficult to lead a correct life of faith because of the vastly changed reality compared to the past. They claim that it is difficult to keep Sunday holy because of work, it is difficult to pay tithing because of financial difficulties, and it is even more difficult to live according to the Word because the Bible written 6,000 years ago is so different from today's situation. This means that they use excuses of this and that to rationalize their disbelief. With rational thinking and prejudice, we take it for granted that we ignore the authority of God's Word and violate God's will. However, acknowledging that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we must live a life that is worthy of God's will. Everything is just an excuse. As in the story introduced earlier, modern people do not respond right away even when they say, ‘I will rescue the shipwrecked ship,’ and use the excuse that the day is dark and say ‘wait for a moment’. Please keep in mind that no excuses are acceptable for obeying God's commands or for living a religious life.
because their sons took bribes
“When Samuel grew old, he made his sons judges over Israel, and the name of the firstborn was Joel, and the name of the second was Abijah. They judged in Beersheba, so that his sons did not follow the works of their father, but take bribes according to profit and pervert judgment. ' (verses 1-3)
As Samuel grew old and weak, his sons came to help his father. Since the office of judges, unlike the priesthood, is not hereditary, it does not mean that Samuel's sons have officially succeeded to the office. He would only have his sons help their fathers as needed. It is easy to understand when you look at the situation at the time.
It was at Beersheba where the sons served as judges. It was located about 80km away from Ramah, the base of Samuel's activities, so Samuel's rule did not go far enough. Moreover, it was a very important place, both religiously and militarily. It was a border region with the Philistines, and it was a very important place economically as a transportation hub connecting Egypt to the south.
However, unlike their fathers, the sons, who were helping their fathers in carrying out the judicial office in such an important place, did not lead the people properly. “I took a bribe and made the verdict perverted,” he said. A judge is a person who establishes justice by resolving disputes in litigation as a judge, but accepting a bribe to make an unjust judgment does not have the proper qualities and morals as a judge. Under such circumstances, it may be natural for the Israelites to reject unrighteous judges.
However, they were not official judges, and since Samuel, a judge appointed by God, was truly alive, praying to God and entrusting all matters to God was the right attitude for the people of Israel to take. However, the representatives of the people of Israel rejected the unrighteous leader and asked, ‘A king be appointed. It was because I wanted to focus only on the wrongdoings that Samuel's sons were doing and to live freely like other nations, freeing from God's rule somehow.
The cheating of Samuel's sons is clearly wrong. That doesn't mean they shouldn't blame God for their mistakes. If you look at history, you will see that God sometimes rebuked and disciplined those times through wrong and evil leaders. In the meantime, the people of Israel enjoyed peace under Samuel's righteous rule, which may have loosened their faith and fear of God. In such a situation, the right attitude they would take was a commitment and effort to repent of their indolent life and live according to God's will. Our country also experienced that through the dictatorship of the past, he rebuked our mistakes and strengthened our faith. It is no coincidence that Korean Christianity grew the most in the 1980s, when the Chun Doo-hwan regime was the most vicious dictator.
When difficulties arise, we should first consider where the root cause of the problem is, rather than blaming others. Instead of making excuses like this and that, you need to make an effort to solve it with faith.
Because the neighboring countries were envious
Unfortunately, the people of Israel, who lived under God's direct rule, wanted a monarchy like the neighboring countries. This is because they envied the neighboring countries because they thought that it was because the king ruled that they had a centralized and powerful government and military power. At that time, Israel was in a state of a tribal alliance consisting of 12 tribes, so it was true that the rulership of the judges alone could not achieve a strong and organized governance system like the neighboring countries.
So the arguments made seemed very plausible. But while their arguments may have been reasonable, they were not religious. If there was a need for a powerful centralized system of government centered on the king or military power, we should have prayed to God over such a problem and asked for God's grace, but we did not. Strictly speaking, Israel should not be envious of neighboring countries, but rather, neighboring countries should have envied Israel. It's a story we hear often, but if a person with two eyes goes to a place where only people with one eye live, it's like being an abnormal person.
They were proud of their position politically, religiously, and culturally superior to other nations, and they had to live a life separate from them before God. The suffering they suffered during this time was like training to live a life different from that of neighboring countries, so Israel was thinking wrong even though it was necessary to make an effort not to be deceived by foreign customs.
Growing up in a family of faith when I was young, there was a time when I was envious of children who played freely on Sundays and lived their own lives. At the same time, he sometimes resented being born into a family of faith. Thinking about it now, it's a really stupid idea.
It was the same with Israel at the time. They did not consider the happiness they enjoyed as happiness. If there are some among you who do not consider the current situation as happiness and are envious of the easy and burdensome life of unbelievers, you should realize that this is very wrong. Most people think that the present reality is difficult, but in hindsight, the past was good. If you want to live freely because the life of faith is difficult and burdensome, you must stand upright in faith, bearing in mind that this is a foolish thought, just like Israel hated God's rule and envied the systems of neighboring countries.
When we see Israel's plausible excuses for asking for a king, we realize how pathetic we are. However, we must realize that their image is none other than ours. No matter how plausible excuses are made before God, we must keep in mind that God is the One who searches our hearts.
The most common phrase we hear these days is, ‘I can’t do it anymore because I’m old!’ It's true. Those who were in their prime when I took office are now over 70 years old. But that's just an excuse. If you set your mind to do it, God will give you the strength to bear it. The next thing to say is, 'I don't have anything in my hands!' But God does not ask for what we do not have. He said, “If you have the will, you will receive whatever you have, and not what you do not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12). We must stand upright in faith, recognizing that the excuses we make may work for people, but neither work nor tolerate God. We should not sow seeds for the flesh, but we should sow for the Spirit, even if it is difficult, so that we can reap the fruits of righteousness. The Macedonian saints said, “Amid the many trials of tribulation, overflowing joy and excruciating poverty made abundant generosity abound” (2 Corinthians 8:2).
When someone came to a car dealership and looked around from car to car, what he always did was kick the wheel. And then he said, 'What is it like, this is this and that' and don't buy a car. When the owner saw such a thing, he said to another person next to him, "No matter how perfect the car is, he won't buy it with another excuse." Guys, we shouldn't be like people who always tuck the wheels of their cars. A person who makes excuses cannot do anything. But in the end, even God's grace is rejected with excuses.
'When my heart is discouraged and burdened with sorrow/ The Lord comes to me and comforts me/ The road is dark and troubled/ The road is dark and troubled/ The Lord is with me and bears my burden/ Your grace is sufficient for me Your grace is sufficient/ In this tormented world When the time passes, that grace is enough' (chapter 300), and pray for victory through faith.