What Single Women Ask God for. . . and Get

1 Samuel 8. The Israelite people, up till this time, have been governed by the Lord, with no visible king over their country. God wanted them to follow Him alone and be satisfied with that; they are supposed to be a people set apart to be His alone. However,they come up to Him and say “appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (v. 5) A perfectly normal request, right? Doesn’t sound like a bad thing. But. . . the Lord says “It is not you (Samuel ) they have rejected, but they have rejected Me.” Apparently to God, it was a bad thing they had asked him. Why? Because a physical king is bad? No, because their request showed they were not satisfied with God completely. They also felt jealous of the other nations who had a king to lead them. They wanted something more tangible, more concrete, more real to put their faith, comfort, and security in.

In a way, the Israelites are just like us women who ask God. . . for a husband. Boyfriend. Godly man. Relationship. Whatever our heart's request may be. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing to ask, right? There’s nothing wrong with asking for a godly man in our lives, we think. But actually . . . think about it. Why do we ask God for such a thing? We know God is God, all powerful, all loving, wonderful, and good, so if He is truly all that but hasn’t yet given us a man in our lives, why should we feel discontent, wishing we had a godly husband “like the other nations” or in this case “like all my other girl friends who are in relationships.” ;-) The reason we feel discontent way down inside is because our hearts are not truly in love with God, our true King. As much as we acknowledge him verbally, our hearts actually cannot give up the fact that what we we really really really want is an “earthly king”. . .  or in the case of us women, a husband.

God is sad at the Israelites’ request, but He doesn’t refuse them outright. He instead warns them of what will inevitably happen if He does give them an earthly king. The king will take their sons and daughters as his slaves, etc., take a portion of their possessions, cattle, vineyards, crops, etc. In short, having a king WON’T end up being as good as the people had expected. In fact, it will really stink at times. Maybe first it will seem cool to have a king, but eventually, you will realize that you are far from 100% happy even with your king that you had desired and asked for.

How much is this like our earthly relationships? When we’re single, we loooooong to have an amazing man in our lives. Yet, oftentimes, the Lord eventually gives us a man. Wow! How wonderful! God is so good! At first, we are so happy and feel on top of the world. But then time passes, and we realize that still we are not totally satisfied. The man who once awed us isn’t actually perfect. He makes  a lot of mistakes. Quite frankly, he annoys me. Sure, he can be sweet and I remember why I fell in love, but he’s so selfish for the most part! In fact, if we are honest with ourselves there is something in us that occasionally looks back on those good old days of being single and “free” and feels wistful, wishing we could be back there, at least for part of the time. Or maybe we just try harder to love him and be a good wife. Surely if we work harder, things will become the paradise I had always imagined with my "earthly king." We feel this way because we'd rather keep trying ourselves than come to God with a repentant heart.

In the story of the Israelites, God warns the people up front about what will happen if He gives them a king (v. 10-18). "Do you still want a king now?" Samuel says. "YES!" the people say. “We want a king over us.”(v. 19) Despite the loving warning of the Heavenly Father, we still persist in wanting what the thing (or person) we want. In our minds, the thing we want seems good and highly to be desired. How can bad come from wanting a king? Silly. How can bad come from wanting a husband? Equally silly. We feel totally correct, and even godly, in our request.

We don’t realize we are rejecting God. Our true King. Our true Husband. Our ONLY Husband.

Yes, rejecting Him. We must let our hearts admit that our sin is that deep.

In the end, the Lord gives them a king. He gives them their heart’s desire. What could make Him sadder than this? Yet, He doesn’t force Himself into our hearts. He lets us have our way. He lets us travel along our own path, following our own hearts, until eventually we realize our dreams didn’t take us where we'd hoped they would. Our hearts remain restless. Then, in that place, will we finally realize our stupid selfishness? Not just be sad about our circumstances, but truly broken before God? Knowing with the core of our souls that we have deeply offended God, that we have spit in His loving face, and slapped aside the outstretched bleeding hands of Christ? That we have rejected Him (v. 7). All for the sake of our passions. Only in the place of true brokenness will HE come to US. When we find ourselves in the wildernesses of our own hearts, He will come and allure us, washing our wounds and speaking tender words of love to us. I am the only one who can be your true Husband. I have never stopped loving you. Just reach out your hands and let Me capture you in my arms. Be with Me forever.  Let your heart be Mine.

If you are single  don't desire a relationship. Desire JESUS. If you are in a relationship, don't desire to be single. Neither should you take satisfaction in your relationship. It won't satisfy you. Your situation is the same; desire JESUS. Pray dangerous prayers of surrender that will let Him take full and unbridled reign over your life with His Spirit. Until there is indeed nothing we would ask God for. . . but Himself.