BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR.

Homily for January 15^th, 2016: 1 Sam. 8:4-7, 10-22a.

          “There must be a king over us,” the people tell the now aged Samuel. “We must be like other nations, with a king to rule us and to lead us in warfare and fight our battles.” This demand marks a turning point in the history of God’s people. Hitherto they had been different from other peoples. Their king was the Lord. Samuel was his representative, but himself no king.

          Samuel interprets the people’s demand for a king as a rejection of himself – understandable in an old man. God reassures him. It’s not you they are rejecting, Samuel, the Lord says, but me. Then God tells Samuel to grant the people what they are asking. First, however, he must warn them of the consequences.

          There is an important lesson here. It is this. Most of the good advice in the world is wasted. We learn best from experience. That explains why, in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, the father does not hesitate to give his immature and irresponsible son the money the young man is asking for. The boy must find out for himself where the enjoyment of so much money, far more than he has ever had, will lead. The father could have warned him of trouble ahead. But he knew that his son would never listen. He must find out for himself.

          So Samuel warns the people what lies ahead, once they have the king they are demanding. He will draft your sons and daughters into his service. He will impose heavy taxes on you, taking not only your money, but your servants and domestic animals as well. And when you start complaining to the Lord about these crushing burdens, he won’t listen to you.

          To which the people respond: ‘We don’t care. We must have a king. We must be like all the other nations.’ Can anyone doubt that if the father of the Prodigal Son had explained to his boy where he would end up if he left home with the fortune he was demanding, his response would have been the same?

          So what is the lesson for us? Simply this: Be careful what you pray for. Lay before the Lord God your dreams, your hopes, your needs – yes. In doing so, however, say always: “Not what I want, Lord; but what you want.”