What We Want Or What God Wants

We are not just to sit and wait for the people up there to minister to us, petting and pampering us while we remain babies, refusing to grow up spiritually. We should be trained to minister in the street, in our working place, at social gatherings, in our everyday lives.

We continue to fail God because we only care about what we want. If we are to practice Christianity shouldn't we practice it the way the Author of the faith wants it? Should we abandon his plan and go after our selfish desires?

"Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Exo 19:5-6). God wanted all of Israel to be priests, He wanted a kingdom of priests, rather He got a tribe of priests, they failed Him.

"When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”" (Exo 20:18-19). "“The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’" (Deu 18:15-18).

God wanted the whole of Israel to hear His voice, they would all become prophetic, but they refuse, they wanted only a group of people be prophets, while they depend on these prophets to hear God.

"But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them all!”" (Num 11:29). Moses understood that this was at the core of God's desire, that all His people be prophets, but the people won't accept that, they want things done their own way, they don't care about what God wants.

And guess what happened; when Samuel was a boy God had not spoken to any Israelite for a very long time. A nation where everyone is supposed to be prophetic was now lacking in prophets. There was not a single prophet in Israel and then Samuel was called. But he was not happy because he knew that God's desire is that all of Israel be prophets, so he decided to start a school of prophets and teach the people of Israel how to hear God so that they can all be prophetic.

But of cause they never cared about what God wants, only a few attended the school and among them were those who went for selfish reason, they don't care about God, they only care about what they will gain by being prophets. Do you remember those 'Sons of Prophets' that were mocking Elisha for following a prophet that would soon leave him? Those were the students of Samuel's school of prophets

"In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judg 21:25). Everyone was living like king, doing whatever they like, the nation was ruled by the people themselves. It was a direct democratic system where the people hold community meeting to make decisions and govern themselves. Everybody have a say in the government, they were all kings.

But no, they didn't like doing things God's way, they want what they want, they wanted to be like other nations of the world. “’Look,’ they (the elders of Israel) told him, ‘you are now old and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.’" (Sam 8:4-5).

“Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.” So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons... some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops... The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants... He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”” (1Sam 8:9-18).

Look at the grievous warning, you will think the people would say no they don't want a king anymore, but look at what they actually said, "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, No; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations;" (1Sam 8:19-20).

“That we may be like the other nations", that's all they cared about, every other thing does not matter. That thought, "Look at the other nations, they have priests, they have prophets, they have kings, and here is God saying we should be a kingdom of priests, we should govern ourselves, and we should all hear His voice. Is that how things are done, why can't He learn from the other nations of the world, we want to be like them."

Yes, that sounds absurd, but that is the same thought we have promoted even in Christianity. We want to do it the way other religions are doing it; other religion has priests, they have a hierarchical system of leadership, they have temples, prophets, holy books and the rest, and we want the same.

Our thoughts, "Why should God say we are a royal priesthood, a kingdom of priests and kings, why should He say He would write the law in our hearts, how are we going to read it, didn't he see other religion with their holy books, how can everybody be prophets and priests, that's rubbish, who does that? Why should He say we are His temple, can't He see the way other gods are living in magnificent buildings, we want to build big and beautiful temples like the other religion of the world." It's just silly how we are so ready to teach God how to do religion.

The question is; is it about what we want or what God wants? Is it our religion or God's religion? Many of us are just practicing our own religion and not the Christianity that God gave us, we are just doing our own thing and hoping that God will honour it. We need to search out to know what God wants.