Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Samuel said to the people, "It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.
"After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord their God; so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. They cried out to the Lord and said, 'We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.' Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, so that you lived securely."
"But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, 'No, we want a king to rule over us' - even though the Lord your God was your King. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against His commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God - good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers."
"Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king."
Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel. The people all said to Samuel, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king."
"Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away."
1 Samuel 12:6-25
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
How often do we forget about all the good things God has done for us in life? Sometimes we allow circumstances to overwhelm us to the point when we feel helpless and hopeless, forgetting how much God has blessed and delivered us through times prior. And sometimes, we just needed reminded by someone as to how great God really has been…so we can refocus our trust and faith in His power to deliver us in the present and future.
In our scripture, we are reminded about how Israel forgot how great God had been in their lives and in the lives of their ancestors. Indeed, God had ruled over mankind as the King of Kings since He created it and had especially cared for His chosen people, Israel, during their history. And yet, the people of Israel demanded to have a king to lead them…despite the fact that they had the greatest King they could ever hope for. Israel turned their backs on God for a man…and Samuel wasn't about to allow them to forget it.
And so in Chapter 12, Samuel reminds the people of Israel just how much God had done for their forefathers and them, performing many righteous acts. Beginning with the deliverance of Israel from Pharoah and Egypt's oppression and their subsequent arrival in the Promised Land, Samuel tells the people that they weren't the only ones to turn from God for their relatives had done the same.
Those relatives "forgot the Lord their God" and suffered the consequences for it as "He sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them". In the grips of enslavement, the people "cried out to the Lord and said, 'We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.'" And with the people turned back to Him, the Lord delivered them from the hands of their enemies, sending Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel to their rescue." You would have thought Israel would have learned their lesson but they didn't.
For as "Nahash, king of the Ammonites was moving against" Israel, they went to Samuel and requested a king to rule over them, "even though the Lord…was (their) King. And so a king they received as God chose Saul and placed him in rule over Israel. This didn't change God's basic requirement for His people…for they were still required to "fear the Lord and serve and obey Him", not rebelling "against his commands". All would be fine if the people and the king followed God in every way. However, if they chose to be disobedient and rebel, then God's hand would be against them "as it was against (their) fathers."
Samuel could have just stopped here and would have made his point verbally but God had more in mind. In fact, God was ready to put an exclamation point on Samuel's message.
For Samuel tells Israel that the Lord was about to do a great thing before their eyes. After remarking that it was the wheat harvest, Samuel called on the Lord to "send thunder and rain" so that the people would "realize what an evil thing (they) did in the eyes of the Lord when (they) asked for a king." And so Samuel did as he said, calling upon the Lord and "that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain".
The end result?
"…All the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel and said, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king." The people were afraid for their lives as they should have been. For God doesn't take lightly to being placed second in life, especially since He and He alone created it.
But as the chapter closes, we learn much more about the Almighty, Powerful God of Israel…our God.
For in the midst of the people's fear, Samuel reassures them saying:
"Do not be afraid…You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own...But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away."
Do not be afraid. We have heard these words spoken before by God Himself when He was seeking to comfort His people. Samuel did the same, not glossing over Israel's wrongs, but telling them that there was redemption for them because of the loving, caring, merciful God they served…the God who would not reject them…the God who was pleased to make them His own. All Israel had to do was turn from their wicked ways…to not turn from the Lord but instead to serve Him with all their heart. And to do this, they had to give up the useless idols that the Canaanites worshipped for God had commanded that there would be no other gods before Him.
As long as Israel feared the Lord, served Him faithfully with all their heart and considered all He had done for them, Israel would find themselves in God's favor. If they refused to abandon their evil ways, then they would be swept away…and unfortunately, as we go through the Old Testament, we will see where Israel does indeed fail and fall…persist in doing evil and become swept away. At least they could never say they didn't have a chance.
As we seek to apply this scripture to our own lives, we are reminded that we were all created in God's own image on the sixth day and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:27) In other words, God was pleased to make us His own and unwilling to see us rejected, He gave us a way to redemption by sacrificing His only Son for us to pay the price for our sins. Thus because His Son died, we were given the chance to live and live eternally…all because He was pleased to make us His own.
Friends, we are not to take this for granted as we go forth in each day that God blesses us with. Instead, we are to live our lives with an attitude of gratitude…showing God our appreciation for His mercy, grace and love…for the sacrifice He and His Son made for us…by being obedient to His word and will for our lives. For in doing so, we will show Him that we…like Him…are pleased to be His own…not just now but forever more. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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