COPYING OTHER NATIONS?

MEMORY VERSE: Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. 1 Kings 12:4
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Corinthians 9-10
READ: 1 Samuel 8:1-22
God’s ways are different from the ways of man. Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Because God is Omniscient, He knows the best way to run one’s life, a marriage, a ministry or a nation. Instead of giving Israel a human king, He deliberately appointed judges, prophets and prophetess over them but the children of Israel did not want that. They wanted to be like the neighboring nations who had a human king (1 Samuel 8:5). When the sons of Samuel, Joel and Abijah, began to accept bribe and pervert judgment, the elders of Israel used that as an opportunity to demand for a king from Samuel. Samuel knew that they wanted to do things how ‘others’ did them not how God wants it to be done and he was unhappy. After bringing the matter to God, he warned them of the dangers of leaving ‘God’s way of ruling them’ and copying other nations. He strictly warned them that a human king will put them in bondage and make life unbearable for them, but they refused to listen. As it is in the nature of God not to force Himself on anyone, He gave them the human king they requested and they suffered under him. At a point, they had to meet the king and beg him to reduce the burden on them. 1 Kings 12:4 says, “Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.”
The story is not always palatable when a man or a woman, abandons God’s laid down principles of doing things, and copies other ‘nations’. Take for instance marriage, there is a way God expects the singles to go about marriage. Unfortunately, many of us Christians are going about it,  the way ‘others’ do it. We want to date, get to know the brother or the sister very well before proceeding to marriage. Unfortunately, all you will see when you are dating a person is their good side. You will see the other side, the real person after marriage. Some of us even decide to have a mock marriage whereby the man and woman will live together under the same roof to see if they are really compatible. No reasonable person will commit his or her resources into such a relationship because the other party can wake up one morning and say he or she is no longer interested. At the end, one may lose out and lose all one has invested. Besides, such will only leave one with scars and nervous breakdown. The same applies to online dating. It is a waste of time. Besides, one could even fall into the hands of a player or a psychopath. Why not go to the Lord and ask Him before doing anything at all. It may appear long but it is the safest way and it is guarantees a long lasting relationship. Sending people to spy on a brother or sister for you, before going into a relationship, is not foolproof. Can the people you are sending to spy see the heart of that sister or brother? Can they see the future of that brother or that sister?
Also, many marriages are being patterned after the ways of other nations. Many women are crying for equal rights in marriage. Both husband and wife are equal before God, but they have different roles. The husband is the head while the wife needs to submit to her head. Submitting to one’s husband does not make one inferior in any way. Also, being the head does not make one superior. This what the bible teaches. Copying the way of the other nations and demanding to play the same role with your partner, in your marriage, will only tear the marriage apart. Actually, the position of the woman is the best because a man by nature will go out of his way to please anyone who submits to him and fights anyone who competes with him. By demanding to be his running mate, you are losing your opportunity to be pampered and be served as Christ served the church. Even now, ministries are copying other nations. They are forming committees to decide how to run the church. The Lord did not found a ministry to be run by people. No! He wants to be the sole proprietor, the only One who makes decision! Do you think that any man will support any decision that is not in his favour even when it will be benefit the work of the Lord? It will only take a broken man to vote for such and at the moment, we are praying to God to bless the church with more of such broken people.
QUESTION: Are you building according to God’s pattern?
PRAYER POINT: Father , open my eyes to see the wisdom in how you want to run my life.
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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.