A week ago this past Sunday, the Old Testament lectionary reading came from 1 Samuel 8.  Israel begged Samuel for a king.  Samuel, in distress, prayed.  God said to him that the people were not rejecting Samuel, but were, in fact, rejecting God as their King.

He then told Samuel to let them have their king.  But he gave a warning.  If His people were to have a king, it would come with consequences:

• He will make soldiers of your sons; some of them will serve in his war chariots, others in his cavalry, and others will run before his chariots.
• He will make some of them officers in charge of a thousand men, and others in charge of fifty men.
• Your sons will have to plow his fields, harvest his crops, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots.
• Your daughters will have to make perfumes for him and work as his cooks and his bakers. 
• He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials. 
• He will take a tenth of your grain and of your grapes for his court officers and other officials. 
• He will take your servants and your best cattle and donkeys, and make them work for him. 
• He will take a tenth of your flocks. And you yourselves will become his slaves.

But Israel wanted a king and they got one.  And so, we can read about king after king after king and whether that king did good or evil in the eyes of the Lord.

At this point, I want to be clear.  I do not equate modern day America with ancient Israel.  And yet, I cannot read this passage without thinking about what we sometimes get ourselves into when we insist on getting our way.

Israel was told what would happen if it was granted a king.  And Israel suffered the consequences–consequences that were enumerated ahead of time.

We were told what would happen if Donald Trump was elected president.  We were told, not by others, but by the man himself:

• When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
• “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said of Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican. “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
• “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her, wherever.”
• “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
• “I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
• “The man has very strong control over a country,” Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing out he has an 82 percent approval rating. “It’s a very different system and I don’t happen to like the system, but certainly, in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.”
• “I am not sure I have (ever asked God for forgiveness). I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”
• “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything….Grab ’em by the ____________.  You can do anything.

Ancient Israel got what it wished for.  And I am afraid we have, too.  And so it really should not surprise us that he and Jeff Sessions have created a policy that separates children from their parents.  It should not surprise us that the president pushes back our allies and attempts to align himself with ruthless dictators.

For those of you who voted for Trump, I’m afraid you are getting what you wished for.  And the main response I get from friends who remain Trump supporters is that their retirement fund is better and they are getting a little more in their paychecks each month.

Well, let me ask you this.  If you are a Trump supporter and if you are a follower of Christ, how do you reconcile a better retirement for yourself at the expense of thousands of children being scarred for life?  Is that extra bump in pay each month worth the knowledge that children are being treated like animals?  Please tell me that you don’t agree with the policy of removing children from their parents and placing them in cages on concrete floors.  Please tell me that you are not willing to sell part of your soul in exchange for the horrific abuse of innocent children.

Jeff Sessions was asked about the comparison between what is being done to these children to Hitler’s regime.  His reply?  “It’s a real exaggeration. In Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country.”  Really?  Seriously?

May God have mercy on our souls…