“And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.” (1Sa 8:18 AV)
Fair warning may cancel grace. Israel wanted a king like the nations around them had. They wanted a champion who would lead them and protect them. Samuel made the mistake of placing his ungodly sons in the position of judge. Much like Eli, his predecessor, whose lustful and wicked sons were killed because they abused the office of priest. The people saw a pattern and were afraid Samuel’s sons would rule over them. They panicked. They forgot God overcame the wicked sons of Eli by calling Samuel. Could not God do the same regarding Samuel’s sons? So, they chose a king. Prior to the actual event, Samuel warned Israel what would happen. He told them the king would take the best of all Israel had for his army and government. He told them eventually their kings would lead them into failure. He warned them of the nature of a monarchy and that Israel would be no exception. In doing so, Samuel was giving them an opportunity to change their mind. Which they did not. He warned them of the consequences of their decision. Yet they decided to anyway. God gave them fair warning. Thus, He was right to withhold any grace they may have received if they had not chosen a king. If they were going to make a bad choice after ample warning, then they were to suffer all of the consequences that came with that choice.
We have many self-inflicted wounds. Over time, most heal. I have many scars on my hands from the years of working in the kitchen and at a factory. I even have one from processing a deer. The funny thing is, some of those choices have consequences that cannot be reversed. Working in the factory, we had equipment all around us with the potential of causing great bodily harm. Because of this, there were procedures in place to keep us as safe as possible. One of the universal policies was the operator never worked on a piece of equipment while it was running. There was a lock-out-tag-out procedure for all hazardous equipment. No matter the repair or how slight it was, the machine was stopped, powered down, and the repair was done while a padlock and tag were placed on all power buttons. Much of the equipment was slow-moving and the repairs were nothing more than a simple jam. To take the time to lock out and tag out a bagger meant the entire line went down for a simple obstruction. Getting the line back up again was an undertaking. Our safety coordinator thought better of locking out a bagger. He worked on it was it was still running. We all did it. This time, however, his hand got caught and did a great amount of damage to his hand, fingers, and wrist. When he came back to work, his arm was in a cast and sling. One would think the consequences of his injury would be punishment enough. But after he came back, there was an investigation and he was fired. He had ample warning and did not heed it.
As far as I can recollect, God was good to His word. He judged Israel for their bad kings. But He never rescued them from the office of king. They were stuck with it until the great diaspora. These kings did exactly what Samuel warned Israel they would do. And then some. We cannot ask for, nor expect God’s grace when we ignore repeated attempts to warn us against our choices. Sometimes the grace of God comes because God cannot help but pity us. But Israel had the habit of ignoring God and not exercising faith when it came to His laws or plan. Therefore, when warned not to do it and they did it anyway, God did not ease their suffering. They made their bed. Now they have to sleep in it. God is a very gracious God. His mercy is everlasting. Just because God is a gracious God, full of mercy and compassion, does not require Him to exercise that attribute. If we are warned, we would be wise to heed the warning. If we ignore it, let us not compound the error by expecting God to rescue us from the consequences we have created.
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