This is the Bible Book Club. I'm Heather and I'm Susan and we're in the book of First Samuel.

Welcome to the club.

Last episode in chapters 8 through 10, Israel demands a king and Samuel is not happy about it and he warns them that a king will not be good for them,

but they persist. And so the Lord agrees. God chooses Saul and sends him on a donkey chase that

led him to Samuel. Samuel explains God's call to be king, and Saul is a little confused by that.

After a night of a pep talk on the roof, Samuel then

anoints Saul and sends him on his way. Our current story has a back and forth feeling like a

game, a chess game. Each team now has a king. Team Israel has a king named Saul, and team God

has a king, which is still God, and a voice, and God's voice is

Samuel. The irony is that Israel should be on team God, but they're not. They want their own team.

What they've forgotten is that team God always wins. There is no point wasting time trying to play a game to replace God, which is a

great lesson for us. Why try to play a game with God where we attempt to make it the rules to suit

our own needs when we know we're not going to win. In the game of life, the rules have already been

laid out in the Bible.

Any play outside the Bible or what God has decreed good for us will be bad for us.

God's going to let us play the way we want.

That's our choice.

But in the end, when we lose or get hurt or suffer consequences consequences sorrowfully regret or petulantly pout,

God will not gloat as a victor. He's going to grieve for us because he wants us to be on his team.

And like a parent, he will urge us to play again on his team, team God, with his roles, his play, and with his

truth.

For he is the way, the truth, and the only way to win at life.

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