Thoughts on 1Samuel 7
Israel mourned and sorrow gripped the nation for 20 long years as the ark of the covenant was tucked away in the house of Abinadab like an unwanted box. It was as though God had abandoned His people.
Samuel, now a grown man, roused them to action by saying if they were truly sorry they should do something about it…
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
(I Samuel 7:3)
The verse above emphasises the foundation to anyone having a meaningful relationship with the Holy God. Returning to the Lord begins with the heart as written in Jeremiah 29:13….And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
If you really desire the Lord, then you will seek him with all that you have. In effect, Samuel was saying to the people, that their repentance must not stop at just longing for the Lord, but must be accompanied by the fruit of repentance.
He gave a comprehensive picture of what genuine repentance looks like and I believe this is relevant to us today.
a. Israel must get rid of their foreign gods- Though Idols today are much more subtle than gods of wood and stone, they are just as dangerous. Whatever holds first place in our lives or controls us is a god- Money, success, material goods, pleasures of life, entertainment, sex, power …etc.
b. They must direct/ commit their hearts to the Lord – this requires a determination to remain faithful to God and be absolutely loyal to Him.
c. They must serve the Lord only-
God requires exclusive devotion. He alone is worthy of our service and worship. Nothing in between.
d. Israel must look to God to deliver them and no one else- Any repentance that clings to hoping in other gods is not repentance at all.
The Israelites heeded the voice of Samuel and repented. This brought an end to the 20 years of separation from God and doing what was right in their own eyes. The people poured water on the ground, fasted before the Lord and publicly confessed their sins.
No sooner than this important steps were taken, their new found faith in God was tested. Their relentless enemy, the Philistines mounted an attack. Their repentance was going to be challenged. This is so true about true repentance. Our repentance is going to be tested to see if we have truly turned our hearts to the Lord fully, if we are going to hold to our confession or recant all that we said ( Deuteronomy 8:2).
Israel passed the test. Even though they became afraid, they did not cave in to the expectation of their enemy. Rather, they implored Samuel not to stop crying out to God to deliver them. Praise God!(Ps 34:4-6 comes to mind here). Their helplessness made them realise they need to depend on God. As Samuel’s prayer ascended, God thundered against the Philistines, threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. The Almighty God gave victory because the people turned to the Lord.
Thereafter, Samuel sets a stone and called it Ebenezer because the Lord had helped them to this point. Ebenezer means “stone of help.” The Implication of this is to remind Israel each time they saw the stone that God had helped them all the way up to this point.Likewise, we must also not forget how the Lord has helped us thus far. God is our Ebenezer.
