Can we Avoid Mistakes?

Who wouldn’t want to avoid mistakes if they could?
But unfortunately, mistakes are a part of life. Even Samuel in the Bible made his mistakes. One of them can be seen in…

1 Samuel 8:1-5
¹ When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. ² The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. ⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

Now Samuel was a man who God approved of, there are two books in the Bible named after him.
But in the instance above, I believe, Samuel made a mistake. He appointed his sons to take over his ministry, even though they didn’t follow his ways.
The result of this action, ultimately, is that Saul was appointed king over Israel.
Although there have been good kings, there have also been some not so good kings (that caused a problem or two.)
Could these problems have been avoided if Israel didn’t have a king? If Israel didn’t have a King, then would Elijah and Elisha have been Israel’s leaders in their time, instead of prophets, that the King may, or may not listen to???

It’s easy to understand why Samuel did what he did.
He was getting old and was looking for a successor. The natural choice was his sons.
But they were not like him, which made it not such a good choice.
Was there some part in Samuel that knew this, but he did it all the same?

Can we sometimes make the mistake that Samuel made by taking the natural choice without consulting God?

What would God’s thought on succession be?

In Judges 8:22-23 we can see Gideon’s response when he is asked to rule over Israel.

Judges 8:22-23
²² The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”

Is this something of the heart of God?
It should be God we look to first instead of man.
A previous post of, When we go to church are we looking for Saul or Father? looks into this thought further.

So, can we learn from Samuel’s mistake?

If the natural choice has a niggle with us, will we still go ahead and do it, or can we look for a better fit?
Can we hear what our Father in Heaven’s choice would be, instead of the obvious choice?
Can we see and hear His choice, before we go and make a mistake?

Father,
Please help us to keep looking to You, for Your help and guidance.
If something is niggling at us then help us to come You, Our Lord God who knows what is best.
Help us to always hear and follow Your words to us.
Amen.