Description

Coolness and the King

You know, it’s been said that hell is hot. Well, I’m not so sure that’s true, because, you see, hell is described in scripture as ‘outer darkness’  or the total absence of light. Well, if there’s no light, then there’s no heat, and if there’s no heat, then hell is cold, making hell a fitting place for most things that we call ‘cool.’

When Samuel the prophet was an old man, the elders of Israel came to him and asked him, “…make us a king to judge us…”  This request displeased Samuel, perhaps because he took it as a personal rejection. Israel had been under the reign of the Judges; now they wanted a king.

Samuel took the matter to the Lord, and the Lord said, “…they have not rejected thee, but have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”  The Lord took their request very personally. To Him, requesting a king was just another act of idolatry.

Then the Lord told Samuel to give them what they wanted: If they wanted a king, they could have one. It would seem that if we are determined to injure ourselves, the Almighty’s not going to stop us. Now, in spite of that, the Lord did instruct Samuel to warn the people as follows what that king would do.

“…He will take your sons,” the Lord said, “and appoint them for himself…He will take your daughters….he will take your fields and your vineyards… he will take the tenth of your seed…he will take your menservants and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men…and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep.” And most alarming of all the warnings, Samuel added, “and ye shall be his servants.” 

Kings take! Big government takes! The king would take all that they had, and finally he would take even the people themselves to sustain himself and the bloated government that would arise around him.

In spite of these ominous warnings, Israel “refused to obey the voice of Samuel. “Nay,” they said, “but we will have a king over us;”  – stubborn and stupid. And all that Samuel prophesied came to pass. Israel received their king and their kings destroyed them.

Now what could possibly have motivated Israel, the Lord’s people, to so foolishly ignore the prophet? The answer is found in what they said to Samuel. They said, “…Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations…” 

It was status! They wanted to look ‘cool,’ they wanted to be like everyone else!

The word ‘cool’ is dangerous, because to be ‘cool’ is too often to care more for the opinion of others than we do what the Lord thinks. Whether it’s kings then, or clothes now, ‘cool’ is ‘pride,’ and ‘pride’ is deadly!

Sources:

Alma 40:13-14
1 Samuel 8:5
1 Samuel 8:7
1 Samuel 8:11-17
1 Samuel 8:19
1 Samuel 8:19-20