Samuel privately anointed Saul, but now calls all Israel together to Mizpah for his public selection and appointment. He then gives a clarification of their demand for a king: “…’I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But you have today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have said, ‘No, but set a king over us.’…” (18b-19b). Notice they had forgotten Who God is by forgetting what He did for them. Their tainted perception led them to demand a remedy born from looking at others rather than looking to God. God would now give them what they desired. From their point of view, Saul was impressive. However, his hiding from public appointment was not an expression humility, but of deep insecurity. Sometimes God gives us what we want, but we do not benefit in the long term. In fact, our will is often in conflict with our own best interest.