The Story Act 3: Standing Tall, Falling Hard

Israel was under the oppression of the Philistines and the Ammonites, and there didn't seem to be any end in sight for all the wars and struggles with other nations. It seemed to everyone like the problem was that there was no king. So the people tell their priest and leader, Samuel, that's exactly what they want—a king. God tells Samuel, "It's not you theyve rejected; they've rejected me" (1 Sam. 8:7), and God tells him in 1 Samuel 8:22, "Listen to them and give them a king." Israel chose a king over God. And the choice isn't quite that straight forward even though it seemed to make sense. But the reason it seemed that there was no better option was that Israel was too nearsighted to see the big picture of what God was doing in the world.