The Difference Paid: 1 Samuel 8:10-22
When a human is our king, they take because it is due to them. My country doesn’t exactly have a king, but America certainly does have a government. The rules governing what the government takes are substantial. The tax laws, including the IRS regulations that go along with them, has twenty times as many words as the Bible. Our government is significantly interested in what it can take from us.
Samuel hears the voice of the people and does what any good leader should. Samuel prays to the Lord and seeks His will. Then, he returns to the people for more discussion.
There is a sincere difference between life under God as king and life under a human king, and Samuel spells it out in these verses. The difference is not that one is free and the other is costly. Both have a paid cost. The difference is the cost itself and the motivation of the one who pays.
Living life with God as king is a choice; a person can take God or leave God. The cost is humbleness. To live life with God is to humble ourselves to Him and His ways. It means following His agenda and going wherever He leads us. In these terms, that is an incredible cost. Following God is inherently about giving up some of our freedoms and independence. By giving up those freedoms, we gain a whole different set of freedoms. We are free from the consequences of sin. We are free to live life under the joy of knowing our God walks beside us. Christianity often claims we pay no cost, but Paul disagrees vehemently. Paul makes the cost quite clear in Galatians chapter 2, where he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Living under a human king also has a cost. The cost is far more tangible. A human king – or in the modern world we might say government – demands things like taxes and obedience to their laws. Some places demand mandatory military service. Most people in government – kings, senators, representatives, presidents – demand being at the highest strata of the social elite. They have expectations that must be met. Most revolutions happen when the cost of government is too high for the population to bear. There are freedoms gained. The government fights our battles for us. The government determines right from wrong and settles disputes.
Hopefully the difference in those descriptions is clear. There is a clear cost to be paid in each scenario. The scenario with God is a cost we choose. The scenario with a human king is a cost chosen for us. Under God, we give. Under a human king, they take.
That’s the point Samuel makes. When God is our king, we give to Him because we have embraced life under Him. When a human is our king, they take because it is due to them.
