1 Samuel
12:6-25
Samuel begins to recall the blessing of God
and the sins of the people and how God always sent a person to rescue
them. He begins with Moses and Aaron and how after 400 years of slavery
in Egypt God saved them. Samuel is reminding them of all of God’s
righteous deeds that He has performed for them and how they returned to little
gods and how we keep doing so even now.
In that they traded the blessing of God for
the idols of the nations around them, God would allow them to be placed into
slavery. In fact, it’s stronger than that
look at verses 9-10. “But they forgot
the Lord their God, so He handed
them over to Sisera commander of the army of Hazor, to the Philistines, and to
the king of Moab. These enemies fought against them. Then they cried out to the
Lord and said, ‘We have sinned,
for we abandoned the Lord and
worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the power of our
enemies, and we will serve You.” Have you noticed God is
merciful and over and over He shows mercy to people who abandoned Him?
Do you recall the judges God appointed to
rescue His people, people like Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel;
they delivered them out of the hands of their enemies? But one would be
foolish to believe they did it in their ability, it was God using their willingness
and obedient heart. God fought the
battles!
Do you recall the cry of the people when
they heard that Nahash king of the Ammonites was coming against them and they
asked Samuel for a king? Here is Samuel’s response; “Now here is the king you’ve chosen, the one you requested.
Look, this is the king the Lord has placed over you. If you fear the Lord,
worship and obey Him, and if you don’t rebel against the Lord’s command, then
both you and the king who rules over you will follow the Lord your God.
However, if you disobey the Lord and rebel against His command, the Lord’s hand
will be against you and against your ancestors.” That all
sounds great, surely they will meet and exceed this requirement.
The more I read Samuel I am convinced the
USA needs a Samuel, listen to what he tells his people. “Now, therefore, present yourselves and see this
great thing that the Lord will do
before your eyes. Isn’t the wheat harvest today? I will call on the Lord, and He will send thunder and rain,
so that you will know and see what a great evil you committed in the Lord’s sight by requesting a king for
yourselves.” Samuel called on the Lord,
and on that day the Lord sent
thunder and rain. As a result, all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray
to the Lord your God for your
servants, so we won’t die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of
requesting a king for ourselves.”
Samuel replied, “Don’t be afraid.
Even though you have committed all this evil, don’t turn away from following
the Lord. Instead, worship the Lord with all your heart. Don’t turn
away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or deliver you; they are
worthless. The Lord will not
abandon His people, because of His great name and because He has determined to
make you His own people.
“As for me, I vow that I will not
sin against the Lord by ceasing to
pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way. Above all, fear the Lord and worship Him faithfully with all
your heart; consider the great things He has done for you. However, if you
continue to do what is evil, both you and your king will be swept away.” That is the message that must be preached in
the USA, in that we as a people do not fear the Lord.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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