So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” - 1 Samuel 8:10-18

At this point in Israel’s history, they were without a king, and for good reason, they already had one - God Himself. But Israel didn’t see it that way. God wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted a human “king” like all of the other nations had. What they didn’t understand was that not only was God going to give them a king like all of the other nations, He was going to give them a king that was like their kings as well. A taker. This king would be Saul. A king who would desire to be served, not to serve. A king who would take their sons and daughters to serve him, a king who would take the best of their fields and vineyards, a king who would take the best of their servants for himself, and take a portion of their livestock, and finally a king who would take them as his slaves. Take. Take. Take. Take. Take. Take.

Who is king in your life? What is king in your life? Career, success, money, sensuality, drugs, alcohol, relationships, power, control, comfort? If it’s anybody or anything but God Himself in Christ Jesus, then he, she, or it will take from you and empty you and leave you dry. Careers end, success is relative, sensuality is temporary, drugs and alcohol destroy, relationships are inconsistent, and there is no real and lasting satisfaction in power, control, and comfort. But God is a giver. Let’s take a walk through scripture and see for ourselves:

“Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land” - Genesis 12:7

God said to Abraham, “...for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” - Genesis 13:15

God said, “I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant” - Joshua 24:13

God said, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” - Ezekial 36:26

God said, “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” - Jeremiah 3:15

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” - Psalm 37:4

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” - Matthew 11:28

Jesus said, “...even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” - Matthew 20:28

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” - John 14:27

Jesus said to the Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” - John 17:22

Give. Give. Give. Give. Give. Give. Is the message clear to you? And these are only a few examples in scripture! It would be irresponsible to say that God never takes from us. As followers of Christ, sometimes He does take from us, but only that which He knows is good for us. Some times it hurts. Often times, He takes from us because He is going to give us something better in it’s place. Because He is such a giver, God will often give us what we want, just like he did for the Israelites. He will politely allow somebody or something else to be king in our lives so we learn (even the hard way) that only He is the rightful King in our lives. Sometimes it’s messy. If you read through 1 Samuel, you’ll learn that king Saul ends up becoming an absolute train-wreck of a king, he completely lets down the people of Israel, and the Israelites are lost because of it. But because God is such a giver, He will raise them up again.

God’s plan was always to give us a human King, but it would be His King for us. After Saul, came David, the greatest king Israel would ever know. But even David couldn’t live up to the expectations. Everything God was doing and allowing was just His way of pointing to the One to come. God’s King for us is Himself in Christ Jesus. The King of Kings. He is a giver. He will not empty you, he will fill you up. He will never let you down. God can only be characterized as a “giver” and don’t ever let anybody tell you otherwise. He is a giver of new life, a giver of grace, a giver of mercy, a giver of forgiveness, and a giver of His only Son, Jesus Christ. When we receive Jesus as our Lord & Savior, He gives us eternal life, and in this life, He gives back to us what our “kings” have taken from us.