Over opinionated with Josh Scott
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- Josh Scott, Host of Over Opinionated.
Over opinionated with Josh Scott
Free Will and God's Sovereignty #89
Samuel's aging and his corrupt sons created a leadership crisis in ancient Israel. Rather than trusting God's theocratic model, the elders demanded "a king such as all other nations have." This pivotal moment reveals the fascinating interplay between human free will and divine sovereignty that continues to challenge believers today.
"It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king," God tells Samuel, unveiling the deeper spiritual rebellion behind Israel's political request. Despite God's warnings through Samuel about the harsh realities of monarchical rule—conscription, taxation, servitude, and potential slavery—the people stubbornly persisted in their demand.
What unfolds is a powerful demonstration of what theologians call God's "permissive will." Though not His perfect desire for Israel, God respects their freedom to choose, while allowing the natural consequences to follow. The narrative serves as a sobering reminder that sometimes God's most difficult lesson comes when He gives us exactly what we've demanded against His better wisdom.
The story challenges us to examine our own hearts. How often do we reject God's unique design for our lives in favor of worldly patterns? When do we demand our own way despite clear warnings? And most importantly, how might we return to trusting God's sovereign plan even after our rebellion?
As Billy Graham wisely noted, "The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us." Even in our poorest choices, God's grace remains available—though we may have to experience the painful consequences of our decisions before embracing His better way.
Share this episode with someone wrestling with difficult choices or questioning God's sovereignty in challenging circumstances. Together, we can learn to trust the One whose wisdom exceeds our understanding.
Hello, welcome back to Overopinionated. We're going to cover something I think is pretty important today. We're going to be talking about free will and God's sovereignty. I did a lesson this as of recording. I did a lesson Wednesday at our weekly Bible study at church on Wednesday night service and I want to get into the first chapter. I want to get into the eighth chapter of the first book of Samuel, where it has some good moral lessons for us. But I also think it shows how God works in his sovereignty in relations to the free will that he allows man to have.
Speaker 1:Before that, as we always do now, we're going to open up with the Lord's Prayer in the Apostles' Creed Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom, come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for divine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Okay, the Apostles' Creed.
Speaker 1:I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again, he ascends to the right, he ascends into heaven and he is seated at the hand of the Father. He will come again and judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. Once again, the sin and the hell. Many people take that as just him being buried. And the Holy Catholic Church means universal, not the Roman Catholic Church of today. So it would be everyone. But yeah, I want to just present to you some of my faults from 1 Samuel, chapter 8. And in this chapter Samuel is getting older, he has corrupt sons which he appointed for judges and we'll get into that and the people are asking for a king. I believe this chapter really does show us. I believe this chapter really shows us the contrast between man having free will and God being sovereign.
Speaker 1:So let's start the chapter 1 Samuel 8, verse 1 in the New International Version. When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel, the name of his second was Ajab, and they served at Baal Sheba. But his sons did not follow in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gains and accepted bribes and perverted justice. All the leaders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel Ramoth and said to him you are too old and now your sons do not follow your ways. Now appoint a king to lead over us, such as all other nations have. Before we get real far, let's address something. So Samuel appointed his sons to be judges of Israel, and his sons did not walk in his ways. They were corrupt, they perverted justice, they were taking bribes, doing a lot of ungodly things.
Speaker 1:Sadly, um, this says a few things. Just because you have, just because you are a godly person, doesn't mean everyone in your household is going to follow your ways, at least initially, and this is sad. But it also shows us that our actions can impact other people. We don't live in a vacuum. Yes, I do believe in having some individuality for sure we don't want to be robots and having some individuality for sure we don't want to be robots, but our decisions directly impact other people's abilities, and that is just true. Our decisions impact other people's abilities, what they can and can't do, what other people will say about them.
Speaker 1:If you're related to someone, someone could say, well, look at how their son's doing, or look at this or that, and it is a reflection on you. It doesn't mean it's fair. It reminds me of a verse in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, 1 Timothy, chapter 3 and 4. Niv says he must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and that he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. And so that's actually a qualification of being an elder is having your household in order. And that always makes me pause and say, well, how is that fair for ministers? They can't help what their children do.
Speaker 1:I could be wrong, but part of me believes that this would only apply to children that aren't adult children, that this would only apply to children that aren't adult children. They'd only apply to children that are smaller in your household. I could be wrong about that, and it's the general effort to discipline your children in love, not abuse. But that doesn't mean your kids aren't ever going to be rebellious. Um, that that's how I take it. You could take it a different way. So we, but we do see god address this in first um, first timothy, chapter three, through paul, when he's describing the characteristics of an elder.
Speaker 1:An elder is what we call a pastor today, but Samuel's not an elder, he's not under that ruling. He is an Old Testament prophet and his children were older, but they affected his father. It also shows that just because your family member is in good spiritual leadership because of their life they've lived and their calling does not mean that you automatically get to. There are a lot of examples in life where godly men, pastors, the head of institutions and their sons or daughters have come along and they have not lived up to their father or mother's I'd say authority, moral life and they have failed. It's not universally true, but there are instances and it seems like part of me thinks that the kids feel overwhelmed because how great their parent is. I have to be very careful on one instance of this that sticks out to me.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to condemn him, but it's very open, as jerry falwell jr in his fallen sexual sin when he was the head of a huge college university, liberty University. I love Liberty, I've been there a few times. It's a great campus that promotes Christ and his gospel Absolutely. But he wasn't living up to the same standards that their students have and Liberty forced him. He was forced to resign. He was fired, I think he was forced to resign and I'm glad he was Now. I don't think Junior was a pastor I could be wrong but his dad I really really like his dad. His dad at first didn't want to get involved in politics but then he realized that Christians have to get involved in politics over moral issues like same-sex marriage and abortion. He started the Institution of Liberty University. He helped start a church in Lutzburg. There that has grown and just a godly man that pursued God's heart. So I think that's a good example and I hope that Jerry Falwell Jr has repented since then. It's been a few years now, but that is just one example that stuck out to me, but I want to continue. So we have.
Speaker 1:We'll start at verse 3 again. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gains except bribes, and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered and came to Samuel at Rapham and said to him you are old and your sons do not follow your ways. Now appoint us a king over us, such as all other nations have. Okay, let's break down this verse. You are old. Your sons don't follow your ways. They're thinking about the future. They're thinking about what are we going to do when Samuel is no longer around. They're seeing the corruption of Samuel's sons and they really want a king. The main thing is at the end of the verse. We want a king such as all other nations have. They're rejecting God's plan for his theocratic rule in the nation. It's a rejection of God's plan, and they used two things they used Samuel's age and they used the corruption of his sons. Now, if his sons weren't as corrupt, I still believe they'd want a king. If Samuel was in his 40s, middle age or younger, I still believe they'd want a king. If Samuel was in his 40s, middle age or younger, I still believe they'd want a king. But they are using that. They're taking legitimate criticisms and they are using them to exploit them for something much larger that they want.
Speaker 1:I will say this when we were having our Bible study, someone said to me what if Samuel was slipping up in his old age? And his exact words were what if Samuel was having Joe Biden moments? I'm not making this political, but that's what he said. That's not what the text indicates to me. I did think about that.
Speaker 1:With age, sometimes mental slips and a cognitive decline does happen. Not all the time, though, and, um, I'm very careful, uh, especially when in the political realm, when some people say we should have a wage in age limit, we should set it at 75. After that you have to retire. I do think that falls into ageism and discrimination, because there's a lot of 76 year olds who their minds are still there and they're still pretty sharp. Um, so I'm not. I don't like the idea of age limits, I don't like ageism. Um, a better solution, if you're going to have a hypothetical thing, would be a cognitive test which all people could take. But that's just not how our Constitution is set up. But I don't see this. I don't see Samuel having mental slips up. I just don't.
Speaker 1:He's just getting older, and I understand you have to have a contingency plan in place for when you're no longer around, no matter if it's a company, a church or a nation. You should be planning for the future. That doesn't mean that you kick the older generation out. Let them live as long as God has them to live on this earth, and we should be willing to listen to their wisdom. With age comes wisdom. They've been around the block, they've seen a thing or two, so we should listen to them.
Speaker 1:And this is a holy man that God has appointed. And this is a holy man that God has appointed. And the peoples are hardening their hearts. They want a strong man to lead them, they want a king to lead them, and they see everyone else around them have a king or a monarch leading them, leading their nations, and they desire that, instead of wanting the things of God, they want the things of the world, and that is what gets them in trouble and that's what gets us in trouble. Let's continue. Verse 6.
Speaker 1:But they said give us a king to lead us. This displeased Samuel, so he prayed to the Lord. Give us a king to lead us. This displeased Samuel. So he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him Listen to all that the people are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. So, yeah, this would hurt Samuel, because he knows what they're asking is wrong, and I think that Samuel probably took this somewhat personal too, because it was his sons. They were saying that he was too old. So I do think it hurt him.
Speaker 1:After years of following God's will and doing the best for the nation of Israel, they come to him and ask for a king. He has to feel betrayed and listen to what God says. They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me. So I think God's probably reassuring him a little too Like listen, this isn't about you, this is about them not wanting my will. This isn't about them disliking you. So I think God's reassuring him. And God says they have rejected me as king. God was their king, samuel was their messenger. But no, we must have an earthly king, even though that's not what God wanted for them at the time. God wanted a theocracy. The people wanted an absolute monarchy. They wanted to be like the world Instead of wanting what God wanted Verse 8. As they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods. So they are doing now. So they are doing now. So the nation of Israel has always rebelled against God.
Speaker 1:In the Bible we see Israel being rebellious the entire book and sometimes it's hard not to read it and say why aren't you appreciative? And it makes me think, man, these are a horrible group of people, but we all are. If God picked a different group of people, they would have failed just as much. They are the same as me and you and their flesh. Pursuing the flesh instead of God's will. We would have done no better than Israel, and maybe we could have even done worse. So I think that's a thing, but we can't serve other gods. There's one God. The whole message of the Bible is there's one God and we should worship him. That is one of the biggest messages in the Bible. There is only one God and we must worship him and him alone. So that's a huge thing, guys. We need to avoid doing what the Israelites did in Egypt and what the Israelites did when they were in Israel and they rejected God Verse 9.
Speaker 1:Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king, who will reign over them, will do as his right. So I think this right here is starting to show the contrast between free will and God's sovereignty. God is saying we'll listen to them, we'll let them have what they want under his permissive will. There's a term called permissive will, where God will allow things to happen under his will, but that is not what he wanted in his I mean, okay, that is not what he was desiring for the people, but that is a better way of saying it, forgive me for tripping up. So, yes, that's not the best thing, that was not the best thing that he wanted for his people, but he allowed it to happen. He permitted it to happen. His permissive will out of dealing with their sin instead of letting the greater thing happen. The greater thing, um, and having the greater thing would be his perfect will. Okay, there's a few different wills that we can see that God has, but he allows us to have his permissive will in rebellion. Verse 9, now listen to them, but solemnly warn them and let them know what the king who will reign over them claims is his right. And the free will part would be that God allows us to either choose him or rebel. But remember, you can only choose God if you have the Holy Spirit Outside of the Holy Spirit giving you at the very least pervenient grace to accept him. You will never do it, but I believe that all that hear the gospel message at some point in their life will have the opportunity to answer the call.
Speaker 1:Verse 10, samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said this is what the king who will reign over you will claim as your rights. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses and they will run in front of his chariots, some with some. He will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and others. He will plow his ground and reap his harvest and still others make weapons of war and equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumes and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give it to the officials in attendance. Verse 17. Flock and of your sheep will and of yourselves will become slaves. When that day comes that you will cry out for the relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you on that day. So what we see here is we see all the consequences of having a king. He will take your sons to go fight, to work in his vineyards. He's going to take 10% of your harvest, which is equivalent to our income in a lot of ways, so he's going to take 10% of it. He will use your male and female slaves. He will turn you into slaves if he desires. Your women will become bakers and cooks and anything that he desires them to make. This is what the cost of a king has.
Speaker 1:It is an absolute monarchy. In this country, the head of state is the president and he has to run for re-election every four years if he desires to be re-elected. In the modern day, he's only limited to two terms. So you can have two terms four years each's only limited to two terms. So you can have two terms of four years each. You're limited to eight years. And on top of that, he has to worry about the judicial system. Striking down one of his executive orders is unconstitutional. On top of that, he has to worry about a Congress, which he has a midterm in two years, that can put the president in check. He has to worry about a Congress, which he has a midterm in two years, that can put the president in check and not give him any laws to sign. So he has constitutional restraints that an absolute monarch doesn't.
Speaker 1:Absolute monarch means whatever they say goes. This isn't the monarch today of Great Britain, who is basically a ceremonial role. He is an absolute monarch who can control all, and the people want a strong man to lead them. This falls kind of into strong man theory in government. They want a strong man to lead them. This falls kind of into strong man theory in government. They want a strong man at the gates to protect from the barbarians, to protect them from the craziness around the world, to have a strong military. I think that's part of it, and they want him there to protect them from the outside. To protect them from the outside. But. But with that comes Lifelong rule and him doing whatever he wants. And the people are saying we want a king. God comes back, they're going to do all these things. No, god, we want a king to rule over us so we can be like the world and not want what you want.
Speaker 1:Then verse 18 ends on this note and it's concerning when that day comes. You will cry out for the relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. Man, that's scary. What he's saying is the Israelites were going to cry out to God because the king is so hard, but God will not deliver them from the king in the day Because they chose not to listen to God and want it to be like the world. I don't want to be in that position. I don't want anyone else being in that position, you or anybody else.
Speaker 1:Now, god is all gracious, but sometimes, when we ask God to rescue us from our problems, if we've repeatedly went away from him, I believe sometimes there's a consequence. There. A good analogy is if you have a child that gets in trouble with the law all the time and the parent keeps bailing you out of jail. I think what God's basically saying is I'm going to let you sit in jail for a while and learn your lesson because you didn't listen to me Verse 19,.
Speaker 1:But the people refused to listen to Samuel. No, they said we want a king over us. They're saying no, we want that. We want that. That's oh my gosh. How many times have we done something so stupid that we look back on and say how could we want that instead of the better thing that God wants for us Verse 20. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead over us, to go out before us and fight our battle. See, they want a strong man to fight for them. Fight for them Instead of trusting God to fight for them. They want to be like the rest of the world and put their trust in a worldly concept to protect them Instead of allowing God to work through his will. Verse 21,.
Speaker 1:When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered listen to them, give them a king. Then Samuel said to the Israelites everyone, go back to your hometown, and then he appoints this is just me Samuel goes and he appoints Saul as king. Now we know that Saul, what happened to him, and if you've been listening to this podcast, you know a little bit about King Saul. As we go slowly through the life of King David and his failure and jealousy in not listening to God, just like Israel did.
Speaker 1:And God will give you what you want. God will give you what you want under his permissive will, and he will allow your free will to do as it pleases, and that doesn't contradict his sovereignty, because he's allowing. It doesn't contradict his sovereignty. Did not surprise him when israel asked this, but then he gave them a warning and they did not heed to it. God gives you a warning, try to heed to it. We have to. If not we don't, we might get god's permissive will. I do believe that there is some hope. So I do have a quote for you guys that I believe relates to this bill. Uh, billy graham, the late great revivalist and um spreader of the gospel, a man I look up to, greatly said the will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us. So, even in God's permissive will, god's grace can still sustain us. And God's grace did abstain Israel and they still, even to this day, israel can repent and believe in god and trust in god. Um, that's a final thought. Let's uh, I want to say a prayer and let you go out of here. It's a little little bit of a condensed episode, but I think it's important.
Speaker 1:God, thank you for today. Please be with everyone listening to this podcast. Let them listen to you. It's hard. Listen, I know how it is. It's hard. I've rebelled against you before. I don't want to rebel against you anymore, but help people, please help people. Please lead them with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for our free will, but also thank you on top of that, for giving us the Holy Spirit that we can choose you through your prevenient grace in the Holy Spirit. Lord, thank you for being better than us. Thank you for being more merciful than us. Please bless everyone that has listened to this and let them grow. Thank you for them being with us throughout this week. In your name, we pray Amen. Thank you everybody, and we will see you here next week. God bless.
