“You can’t always get what you want.” I heard one of the contestants on television sing this song in a duet with his little sister. Apparently the Rolling Stones sang it years ago. I didn’t know the song before the show. It still comes to mind sometimes. This is a hard message for our world. We have come to believe that in every instance we are entitled to what we want, exactly when we want it. In our consumer world, if we don’t get what we want, we go somewhere else.
The Israelites wanted a king like the nations around them. After several different judges rose to power and faded from the scene, God raised up Samuel as a priest and prophet. But Samuel was never a king. It was hard for this holy man not to take it personally. Samuel felt rejected. Then God explained to him that the people were not really rejecting Samuel but they were actually rejecting God himself as their true King.
God gave the Israelites what they wanted. Samuel found Saul and anointed him as king. Then the prophet prayed for unseasonal lightning, thunder, and rain to accentuate the folly of the people. The people pleaded with Samuel to pray for them. I love his response, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.” This week I get to pray for the prayer requests we received on Sunday in our worship service. I will not sin by failing to pray for all of you. But I know that we don’t always get what we want from God. But if we pray sometime, our King will give us what we need. If we ask him. We should ask him.
