And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." – 1 Samuel 8:7
The Lord always works in ways that are for our good, but only if we let him. This is what we see here in the book of 1 Samuel, when Israel is at a point where they want to be independent from God. Their wants exceed their needs... I read from chapter 9 today, and Saul is about to be appointed king of Israel, yet he is questioning to Samuel why God wants him to be king.
Today, there are a lot of people rejecting God in their life and want to do things their own way. I find that it is pretty easy to say we want something our way, and neglect to let God have full control of the situation. However, as Israel will find out, doing things "our way" does not always end up with the best results. If only they (and we) had submitted to God's plan in the beginning, all the strife could have been avoided from the start.
My wants included moving somewhere else and finding a girl I could settle down with, however after two dead-end relationships, I found myself right where I had been in the beginning. Now, after months of prayer and an effort to wait on God, I am slowly seeing things work out for my good that I would have not expected, all while staying in the same town.
Sometimes in life we look for change to avoid problems from the past. Yet if only we had faced them (with God's help) from the beginning, could we have saved ourselves from the stress we know now.
