This summer we are going to spend time reading through stories found in the Old Testament books of I and II Samuel. I and II Samuel are books telling about events from 3000 years ago but stories that we will find very relevant today.

I and II Samuel was originally one book written in the Old Testament language of Hebrew. However, when it was translated into Greek it was split into the two books that we have before us today. These books were then called I and II Samuel named after a central character.

I Samuel begins at a time when each of the twelve tribes of Israel is governed by charismatic judges. There is no centralized government. As a result, Israel is easily conquered by the nations around them.

During the time of these stories, the powerful nation closest to them are the Philistines. This is the period we refer to as the Iron Age. The Philistines had iron and chariots and had developed a strong military industrial complex.

The Israelites were tired of being conquered by others. Also, most of the judges proved to be very ineffective and corrupt leaders. There was some heroes like Gideon and Deborah but most of the judges were weak. As a result, the period of the judges is a time of economic and moral decay for Israel.

The person named Samuel is the last of the judges. Today we will be reading his story and the transition for Israel from being ruled by judges to the desire of the people to be ruled by a king.

Samuel is anointed into leadership by the priest Eli because Eli’s sons are corrupt. We learn in the first part of Samuel that Eli’s son’s have been accepting bribes as priests and also raping women who have been coming to them for priestly guidance. Like I shared earlier, this story may be 3000 years ago but it is very timely.

But we will learn today that Samuel becomes older and, like Eli, he has corrupt sons. The people are frustrated that they are a second rate nation with an aging leader. Yes, there is ageism in this story as well.

So the people begin to demand to have a king like other nations around them. The bigger and stronger nations have kings and military might and they want to be like the nations around them.
Read I Samuel 8:1-9

If you grew up with the Brady Bunch then you are familiar with the line, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” The Brady Bunch, as the ones my age know, was a show from the early 70s about a blended family. A dad with three boys marries a mother of three daughters.

In this one famous episode, the middle child Jan is frustrated that the oldest child, Marcia, is getting all of the attention. Marcia is seen as successful by Jan and Jan is jealous and wants to achieve the same level of adulation. Therefore, Jan complains, that all she hears is, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.”

Many of us struggle with that same sense of inadequacy compared to others. Many of us wish we could be just like someone else. Someone else who is more successful than we are, someone else who is better looking than we are, someone else who is more spiritual than we are, someone else who is the better athlete than we are.

Many of us struggle with these feelings of being inadequate. All we hear in our head is, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.”

The story we just read is a story of a group of people who feel inadequate. They are tired of being poor and disorganized. They are tired of being beaten up all of the time by their neighbors. So they decide that they must become like the one that they admire so much.

I once read a quote that says that “the world is trying everyday to make you like someone else.” In other words, the culture we live in is trying to make us feel inadequate and conformists.

The more we feel inadequate, the more we will buy to make up for our inadequacies. The more we feel inadequate, the more we will seek out unhealthy solutions to solve the hole that we feel.

Mike Robbins is an author who tells about a recent conversation that he had with a friend of his. She had just returned from a two week trip to Israel. When Mike asked her how her trip was, she replied, “It’s a magical place where I truly feel like I can be myself.
The people there don’t care what I do, about how many big clients I have, and so many of the other things we care about so much here. My only currency when I’m there is who I am.”

As Mike reflected on her words, it really hit him how much of his time and energy is spent trying to accumulate currency in the form of money, accomplishments, appearances, status, connections, and other external things.

He says he does this because he is seeking access to the things that he thinks are important. And that by striving for these things that someday he’ll “make it” whatever that means.

He then concludes by saying, “what if we lived more of our lives focused on who we are, and not so much on what we do, what we’ve accomplished, what we look like, who our friends are. What if the most important thing is to simply be who God created us to be?

In our story from I Samuel, the Israelites become dissatisfied with who God was creating them to be. So they tell God that they want a king like everyone else.

Samuel warns them that a king will draft its citizens for war, he will force people into enslavement to support the king’s power, their goods and lands will be confiscated, and they will be heavily taxed. Upon hearing all of that, the people say, “everyone else has a king so we want a king.”

God tells Samuel that this is a rejection of God and not Samuel. So Samuel is led by God to anoint Saul the first king. Saul proves to be incredible ill prepared for the job of king but he looks like a king because he is good looking and tall.

But even though the people make poor choices, God still carries out the will of God to lead the people in the direction that God chooses.

Many of us have been striving to be like someone else. And with that desire to keep up with who we think we want to be like, we have made some bad choices. We have wasted our time and energy and money in many frivolous ways.

But God doesn’t give up on us. God continues to work in us and through us even when we are driven to be like someone else or to keep up with someone else.

This story invites us to become comfortable within our own skin. Our job is to be faithful and obedient servants of God and to be OK with that. We don’t have to be like someone else. God has created you to be the best you that you can be.

“Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” Jan exclaimed because she was not like her sister. And that is OK.

You be the best you that you can be because that is who God created you and me to be. AMEN.

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-Robbins, Mike, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stop-trying-to-be-someone_b_318978
-Given: June 6, 2021 in Allison Creek Presbyterian (York, SC)