And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,and your neighbor as yourself.”  Luke 10:27 ESV

The value of man's service to God is derived from the fact that it is chosen. God empowers believers to choose what is right. The aggregated result of service to God is (eventual) freedom from oppression that would interfere with your service of God.

Liberty is freedom to serve God, not freedom from God. The natural state of man is un-fettered service to God. We are free to serve God. No King was prescribed when the law was given. The law was enforced by the people and ultimately God was rejected by the people. There was no federal government. The tribes were extended families under self-rule under the law of Moses. 

At first, the tribes would petition one another when in need (Judges 4:4-6;6:35;20:1). However, the tribes did not come to each other’s aid (5:13-18;8:1), instead they attacked each other (8:16;9:1-56;12:1-6;20:1-48), and personal interests became of greater concern than national (11:5-11).

Morality has a relationship to freedom.The immorality of the people yielded immoral leaders. Immoral leaders approve and promote immoral cultures. The result of Judges was a cycle of increased immorality bringing external oppression and loss of freedom. Once the oppression yielded a heart toward God then he would send a Judge (a kind of tribal Warlord) to restore liberty. The cycle continued over and over until we get to Samuel.

We will see from 1 Samual 8 that God did not give up on the Israelites. They gave up on him.

Samuel was the last judge of Israel. When he grew old he tried to make his sons judges. However his sons were bent toward personal gain, took bribes, and perverted justice (1 Sam 8:1-3). The people rejected the leadership of his sons and asked for a King instead like all the other nations (v4).

Samuel feels rejected but God points out that the immorality of the people have caused them to reject God, not Samuel. The deeds they have done since they came out of Egypt forsaking him to other Gods (v8) is also forsaking their freedom and it's responsibilities.

Go ahead and install a King but warn them about the ways of the King who will now rule over them.

What are the ways of a King:

In that day, you will cry out to be free from the oppression of your own choosing but God will not revoke the agreement he made with the King on your behalf (v18). The people refused the advice of Samuel and insisted on a King like the other nations. Thus ended God’s second experiment in liberty.

When the people turned against God, they experienced a loss of freedom (Deut 28:28-29; Judg 2:16-23). An immoral people are not equipped to be a free people and are dangerous as a free people. On the other hand, a moral people do not require excessive laws and excessive laws do not make moral people. When laws increase to bind the evil, they also inevitably bind the good.

The choice still exists for us. We have the same warning before us. When we choose a government that ends up oppressing others on our behalf we will be equally bound when it's oppression turns to us on behalf of others.