Group Check-in

1. What was the best part of your week?
2. What was the most difficult part of your week?

What’s 1 Samuel 8 About?

In 1 Samuel 8, Israel makes a bold and heartbreaking request—they want a king. Samuel, who has served faithfully as their judge and prophet, is getting old, and his sons aren’t walking in his ways. The people come to him and say, “Appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable request. But underneath, it reveals something deeper: they are rejecting God’s leadership.

Samuel is grieved. He takes it to the Lord, and God responds with both compassion and sorrow: ‘It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.’ Still, God tells Samuel to listen to them, but also to warn them about what a king will do—taxes, conscription, forced labor, and more. Despite the warning, the people insist: “We want a king over us.”

This chapter reveals a pattern we all fall into—looking for human solutions to spiritual problems. Israel wanted to be like everyone else. They were tired of waiting, tired of being different. But in choosing to conform, they missed the beauty of their calling.

God sometimes gives us what we ask for, not because it’s best, but because He’ll let us learn through it. Even in that, He’s patient. This story challenges us to ask: Are we trusting God’s leadership, or trying to build a life that fits our preferences? What we ask for reveals who we trust.

Key Verse

“It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” — 1 Samuel 8:7

SOAP for the Week

Passage: 1 Samuel 8:1–22

Ice-Breakers

1. If you could be king or queen for a day, what’s the first law you’d pass?
2. What’s a time you got exactly what you wanted—and regretted it later?
3. Have you ever tried to solve a spiritual struggle with a human fix?

Group Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think Israel wanted a king so badly?
2. How do you relate to the temptation to conform instead of trust?
3. What are some ways we reject God’s leadership in our daily lives?
4. How does God respond to their request? What does that say about His character?
5. What does it mean to choose God’s way over the popular or practical way?
6. How can you surrender an area of your life where you’ve been trying to take control?

Practical Takeaway

Sometimes the hardest thing to hear is, ‘Okay, I’ll give you what you asked for.’ Trusting God’s leadership means trusting even when it’s not what we expected.

Prayer

Father, help us to want Your way more than our own. Forgive us for the times we’ve chosen what’s comfortable or familiar instead of what’s faithful. Lead us back to trusting You as our true King. In Jesus’ name, Amen.