1SA 8:7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people
are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done
from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
The Israelites came up out of Egypt as slaves under the abusive control of the Egyptians.
They had to work in pits every day and be beaten if they did not do their masters' bidding, all the while knowing that
God was watching all this and allowing it to happen. This atmosphere bred a deep root of fear that caused them not to trust
in any outside authority at all, not even in God's authority because obviously He allowed all of their terrible treatment
to take place.
Many of you have had to live in abusive conditions during your childhood where lots
of "out of control" things happened that also have caused you to distrust all outside control. Death, abuse, and divorce,
can traumatize a child and send us a message that life is not stable or safe enough to trust in anyone but ourselves.
After all, we all trusted that our parents would treat us right, never leave, and always be there for us, but that's
not how things turned out.
This fear of outside control can paralyze us as adults and make it very difficult to
be under any type of control that we cannot directly be in control of. Get that? This can make keeping a job, being married,
having kids, or remaining in any situation where something or someone else has control over us very difficult to maintain.
We may see all outside control as a threat of further harm, and either consciously or unconsciously push away from
all responsibilities.
You see, those outside responsibilities do have an indirect control over us because
we are obligated to show and up do things because that responsibility requires us to act. You might also find yourself
trying to be in control of any authority, partner, or leader that has control over you by flattering, rebelling, threatening,
manipulating, or many other techniques we use to control those who have control over us. We fear not controlling
anything that can harm us.
