RPG Adults
REVIVAL UNDER SAMUEL (II)
FRIDAY, MARCH 24
1 Samuel 7:15-17
Deuteronomy 11:16-25
“Take heed to yourselves, that your
heart be not deceived…”
REVIVAL UNDER SAMUEL (II)
The conclusion of 1 Samuel 7 gives to us a summary picture of the public life of Samuel. Under the leadership of Samuel, Israel experienced peace with the Amorites and repossessed the cities that the Philistines had taken from them. And, under his leadership, Israel began to have a change of heart. Their reliance on God and contrition of heart were reflected in how they put away “Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only” (1 Sam 7:4). This is a departure from the testimony in the book of the Judges where repeatedly “they forsook the LORD” (Judg 2:12-13) and “served Baal” (Judg 2:11, 13; 3:7; 10:6, 10).
“And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life” (1 Sam 7:15). The godly leadership of Israel’s last judge brought revival and a turning back to the LORD just as the godly leadership of Joshua had done (Josh 1:5; Judg 2:7). During the days of Samuel’s life, he saw the desolation of Shiloh, the help of the LORD (seen in the stone of testimony that he called Ebenezer), the Philistines subdued, and the nation becoming a monarchy. During his days, he pursued the spiritual welfare of the nation beginning from his call to put away the strange gods, his preparation of the people’s hearts unto the LORD, to his commitment to not stop praying for them. He knew that the glory of the nation was their LORD and thus the good of the nation rested on their spiritual growth and relationship to God.
As judge, he helped the nation in their general and physical welfare; and as a deliverer he helped them against the external oppression and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies. As judge, he also had a hand in the administration of justice and maintaining the morality and spirituality of the nation, duties which continued even after the nation requested for and had their first king, Saul. It is in the performance of this duty that he had his yearly circuit, and he had his house in Ramah where “he built an altar unto the LORD” (1 Sam 7:17). Here, Samuel spent his days serving the LORD to whom his mother had committed his life even before his birth and who appeared to him when he was a child.
THOUGHT: (Read Psalm 99:6.)
PRAYER: Father, grant us pastors who are committed to Christ.