Let’s look again at the historically recorded acts of God in the Old Testament. Remember, they are all real events but prophetically point beyond themselves to the greatest act of God in human history: the Life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and His pouring out the Holy Sprit’s anointing and power on all who believe in Him, His new creations.

At the end of the book of Judges (Judges 21:25) we read, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”

Nothing good comes from that mentality and mindset because, apart from God uniting us to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, we are spiritually dead and deceitfully wicked. Without our allegiance being solely grounded in God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, without Jesus’ resurrection life being lived out within us by the Holy Spirit to transform how we think, understand life and live out the new life given to us, we are as hopeless and the rest of humanity without God.

We were never created to live life disassociated from the Creator of life itself. True humanity is discovered and experienced only in a living relationship with God. Only God can take what is spiritually dead and cause it to become alive with New Life. Salvation is of the Lord alone.

We read back in Exodus that God was calling Israel to be a “kingdom of priests”. The Hebrew word “priest” in the word “Cohen”. It means one who has the capacity to draw near to God in intimacy and fellowship. God intends for all those who belong to Him to draw near to Him. To do so means that we will be changed into His likeness. When we derive our worth, our identity and our meaning from the world around us, its values and assumptions, we live in self-deception.

We don’t find life’s true meaning by delving into ourselves or looking to some other system or philosophy to define what it means to be human. Freud, Yung, Astrology, the Enneagram, or Tarot card readings cannot tell us who we are. They all fall short of true humanity and are at heart demonic deceptions. You get to know another person by being with them, listening, sharing not by categorizing them by a number or star-sign!

God has made it very clear throughout His Word written what humanity is like and what it is capable of and it’s not very flattering. A good physician will tell you a true diagnosis of your condition so that remedies might be applied to heal you. God makes it clear that doing whatever seems right in your own eyes, “following your heart”, being true to your feelings when you are spiritually dead will not cause you to flourish as a person.

Israel became so full of “self” that they sunk to the point of wanting a king like the nations around them. Under the last Judge, the Prophet Samuel, Israel was reminded over and over that God was their King and they were to draw their sense of worth, identity and purpose from their relationship to Him and Him alone. During Samuel’s lifetime, the Lord’s powerful Hand was raised against Israel’s enemies. It was God’s doing, not man’s.

Sadly, Israel wasn’t interested in having God rule over them. They wanted a mere mortal that they could see to rule over them. They were not rejecting Samuel; they were rejecting God’s rule over them.

Here is what God warned: (1 Samuel 8:10-19) “So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”  But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.

The Lord’s rule is merciful and kind, longsuffering and patient, just and good, faithful and gracious. It WILL cause us to be changed, but who wants to merely exist and no to become fully alive?