A Driving Force

But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 1 Samuel 8:6

It drove him to his knees; he gave them no answer for the present, but took time to consider of what they proposed, and prayed unto the Lord for direction what to do, spreading the case before Him, and leaving it with Him, and so making himself easy.

Samuel was a man much in prayer and we are encouraged in everything to make our requests known to God. (Philippians 4:6) When anything disturbs us, it is our best interest, as well as our duty, to show before God our trouble, and He gives us leave to be humbly free with Him. (Matthew Henry)

The children of Israel actually blindsided Samuel with their request for a king. He had been in their service since childhood. God governed Israel through him as a judge and now they were wanting an actual king to preside over them. This was a slight against God.

If it had happened to me, I would have went off on a rant, spouting off why they were wrong. But Samuel went directly to the Lord, laying everything out and then leaving it with Him until he received direction, and making himself easy. What a perfect model of what to do when life blindsides us with the unexpected. The key phrase for me would be: leaving it with Him. I pray and spread my case before the Lord and then when I'm finished, I'll gather everything back up and carry it with me.