Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Poor vision leads to poor decisions.

1 Samuel 8:4-7 English Standard Version

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah ⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

Samuel made his sons judges over Israel. They took bribes and perverted justice.

It appears that Samuel did not ask the Lord “Who shall replace me when I am gone?”

Perhaps Samuel was so busy being a prophet and judge for Israel that he failed as a father.

That makes me a judge of someone I never knew. That is my problem to deal with.

I have a King that rules over me, Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come

Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

The insecurity that is inherent in mankind wants to know if their name is written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 3:5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

That comment is made as a warning to the church in Sardis and ends with the common phrase “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

What I am about to say is not the word of the Lord but something that comes from my emotions. If you only worry about your name being in the book, then maybe it is not.

Selfishness is not His Way.