Samuel

by J.A. Hickling, Portslade, U.K. | Category: Some Prayers Of Scripture | Jan 1983

The prophet Samuel was remarkable. In response to the fervent prayer of his mother Hannah, God had granted to her the son she called Samuel-which means "heard of God". In return, Hannah had given over Samuel to service in God's house from the time he was weaned. As a child he "ministered before the LORD" (1 Sam. 2:18) and "Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him" (1 Sam. 3:19). It was not long before he began, at a crucial time in the history of the children of Israel, to carry out the great work for which he obviously had been born.

Samuel learned the ways of God like other great men before him. He learned that God would allow him to speak intimately with Him and would willingly listen to his requests on behalf of the people of God. The psalmist in Psalm 99 at a later date could write that Samuel was "among them that call upon His name; they called ... and He answered them". This would seem to typify the man who had the onerous task of dealing with an erring people. "Give us a king to judge us," they said (1 Samuel 8:6). What did Samuel do? "And Samuel prayed unto the LORD". We are not told what he said, but certainly it would be a cry from the heart and the Lord would hear and the Lord would answer. We can take example and encouragement from this.

The demand of the people for a king brought much displeasure to Samuel. He probably thought he had failed in his service before the Lord on behalf of His people. The Lord reassured him: "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not be King over them" (1 Sam. 8:7). A short time previously Samuel had "cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the LORD answered him" (1 Sam. 7:9). The Philistines had been defeated, and as a result Israel enjoyed some years of peace, but in their state of rest and peace they forgot God. How fickle and forgetful and unthankful is the human heart! The poet has said: "Prone to wander, Lord, I know it, Prone to leave the God I love." This is very true, but we should be thankful that we have One in the presence of the Father who understands all the reasons for our shortcomings and failures and is able to make intercession on our behalf. It is good if we can keep ourselves in such a frame of heart and mind as to feel our utter dependence upon Him at all times, as Samuel did.

Samuel was old when God rejected Saul. This event perturbed the old man. He was angry and "he cried unto the LORD all night" (1 Sam. 15:11).

Again we are not told what the gist of his prayer was, but it can be safely assumed that Samuel's heart was very heavy because of Saul's failure. His

mourning for Saul (1 Sam. 15:35; 16:1) indicated how deeply he felt what had taken place. But although this depressed and upset him, his communion with his God was not broken. Samuel had yet more work to do-the high honour of anointing David, possibly the greatest earthly king of all time, a man after God's own heart. Even this event was overshadowed by fear: "If Saul hear it, he will kill me" (1 Sam. 16:2). But his trust in God was firmly fixed: "And Samuel did that which the LORD spake" (1 Sam. 16:4). Communion with the reliance upon God will constantly strengthen our faith and keep us fit for the fight and for whatever service the Lord leads us into.

J.A. Hickling, Portslade, U.K. | Jan 1983
Some Prayers Of Scripture